Perspective Is Everything
by aflightoffancy
Summary: Post flag-raising. Terminal City is lost and Max's hopes and dreams along with it.
1. Chapter 1

**Perspective Is Everything**

Summary: Post flag-raising. Terminal City is lost and Max's hopes and dreams along with it.

_Sorry, all, this is not another story in the Hounds Series. That may or may not happen depending on whether an idea comes to me. Instead, this story is because a reader informed me that I'm never fair to Logan, he's out of character, etc. That's not to say I'll be any nicer to him in this story, but that's where the story came from._

_So… let's start this story off in the typical spot and see where we can wander off to…_

Chapter One

* * *

Alec looked away from the flag. The moment was past and the reality of how deeply they were in disaster was setting in.

He looked across and saw that Max and Logan were holding hands. He tried to care and it mattered for all of half a second. They had bigger problems than Max's messy love life, and thus his by extension. He'd backed Max's play, both at Jam Pony and with the Transgenics once they were back in Terminal City, but the pit they were standing in was getting deeper and deeper and Max just kept shoveling.

"Well," Alec clapped his hands together, "this has been great and I'm feeling the love, but we should probably get out of the open. The guys on that building over there have sniper rifles."

Those seemed to be the magic words and in seconds the roof cleared. Max, Logan and Alec were the last to leave. Max headed down the metal stairs, followed by Logan who held the railing as he descended and Alec frowned noticing he was still wearing his latex gloves. Alec mentally put it on his list to somehow procure a pair of leather gloves or something else that would work to keep him safe. The latex was just creepy, not to mention flimsy, if Logan was going to be hanging around again.

At the bottom of the stairs, Max looked up at Logan and smiled. He held out his hand and after a second's hesitation, she took it. They began walking, but almost immediately, Alec could tell something was wrong. Logan's gait was off, more so than usual. A second later and Max noticed it, too.

"Logan?"

He stumbled to a halt and pulled his hand away from her. It was the hand he'd used to grip the railing as he came down the stairs, and plain as day Alec could see the rip in it. His gut Manticore reaction was to put a bullet in Logan and keep walking since a terminally wounded team member would just slow them down. Manticore was gone now though, so luckily for Logan, Alec had different rules he could go by now.

"Max, get back," he ordered while simultaneously lurching forward to catch Logan and keep him from slamming his oh-so-brilliant head into the concrete floor.

"Logan?" Max's voice was as high as Alec had ever heard it. "Logan, say something."

"He can't," Alec said. They should be so lucky that it was a mild reaction. Logan was already sweating and his breathing was quickly going from labored to desperate wheezing. It seemed each time he was infected, the reaction was worse, faster acting.

"Alec, pick him up!" Max ordered. "We've got to get him somewhere we can give him a transfusion."

"You're gonna need another volunteer for the blood. I can't do it," he told her. Alec had been shot and then had the crap beaten out of him by a Familiar. He was already running low.

"It's not gonna be from any of us." Mole stepped forward, his growling voice low and firm. "We're not giving anything to the Ape. We already gave at the office."

Max turned and got right in the Transhuman's face. "Shut up, Mole. Manticore made the virus just for him. We help our own."

"That virus is more one of us than the Ape is," Mole growled back. "We don't have to help another damn one of them."

Max looked murderous to the point Alec was afraid he'd have to step in. Apparently, Max and Mole butting heads was going to be an ongoing theme while they were locked together in TC.

"Logan," she pointed to the downed man, "has helped us every step of the way. He's done more for this operation than you have, Mole. All you've done is stand around and bitch about what everybody else is doing."

Mole took his cigar out of his mouth so he could argue properly. "I don't bitch unless _someone_ thinks we should start helping the same Apes who caged us in the first place."

"Listen, we all-"

"We?" Mole snarled. "Like you know anything about what the rest of us have been through." He pointed a scaly finger at her. "You're an '09er. You don't know jack about being one of us. Matter of fact, you probably know about as much as the Ape does."

Finally, Alec had had enough. The argument wasn't really about Logan. It was another Max-Mole power play. It didn't help that there were a lot of people nodding along with Mole's sentiments. Alec's only current concern was that while they went head to head, Logan's gasping breaths were coming farther and farther apart. Alec hefted Logan off the floor, faltering when his damaged ribs protested, followed by a distinct rip in the wound on his shoulder.

"Get out of my way," he ordered, and those around him, even Mole responded to the command in his voice.

Alec raced as fast as his battered muscles would allow down the rest of the stairs in the building toward the makeshift living area that had developed outside their command center, such as it was. There were a few old mattresses, some stained chairs and ancient sofas.

Alec set Logan down on the closest couch. He quickly put one hand on his forehead and the other beneath his neck and tilted Logan's head back in an attempt to ease his breathing a bit, but Logan was in deep trouble. It sounded as if his airway was already close to swollen shut.

Max appeared at his side carrying some plastic IV type tubing and a bag of things it looked like she'd pulled from the ambulance they'd stolen for the getaway from Jam Pony. Almost as soon as she appeared, however, they felt an explosion that was far too close for comfort. It was big enough that cement, plaster and dirt began to filter down from the floor above them.

"What was that?" Max demanded.

"They've blown the concrete barrier!" someone shouted.

As soon as the sector police had backed out of TC, they'd used rubble and chunks of concrete to form a barrier to keep them from just driving back in. "I guess Clemente was overruled," Alec said ruefully. He shook his head. He shouldn't have expected anything else. Their luck couldn't get any worse if they tried.

"They're going to come in and clean us out with or without all your fancy speeches," Mole growled, adding a glare in Max's direction.

Another explosion rocked the ground beneath them, leaving no doubt about the threat level they were facing. Alec looked at Max and saw the internal war going on beneath the surface. She was obviously willing to fight to keep them all together, but an open attack changed things. They just weren't geared up for an all out battle. Covert work and sneak attacks they could do, but not this. Finally, Max seemed to come to a decision, although it clearly pained her. "Ok, everybody out!" she bellowed. "Scatter! Go to ground!"

"Damn Apes will hunt us till we're dead," Mole bit out. He began marching away and it looked like a large group of Transhumans followed him, although there appeared to be quite a few Transgenics as well. It seemed Max's high ideals were all well and good, but Manticore had taught them survival first and foremost, and at this point that meant sticking with the guy who'd said staying was a bad idea.

Alec looked around and saw another group, a smaller one, was standing there nervously watching Max. She'd made herself the would-be leader of this little ragtag group and the foot soldiers were still looking to her for guidance. Joshua, too, had appeared and was waiting for Max to lead the way.

"We're going to need transportation." She looked around and saw some of Mole's people already getting into the ambulance. Alec could see that she wanted to yell at them, no doubt wanting the supplies for Logan, but it was too late for that.

"You," she pointed at the closest Transgenic, "you're driving the paddy wagon we used to get back here." She waited for him to head for the vehicle, then said, "What else do we have?"

"Have old car," Joshua said. "Use for supply runs."

"We've got the motorcycles, too," another Transgenic said named Abe. Alec had only dealt with him a few times. He was younger, but smart, and he thought out of the box.

"We can get a bunch of us in the paddy wagon, two to a bike, and as many as we can get in the car." Max clapped her hands. "Go, people. We've only got seconds."

Max didn't wait for them to obey. She turned back toward Logan and knelt at his side. "We have to take him with us." There was another series of explosions near the fence line, large enough that the ground shuddered. That seemed to help Max to come to a decision. "Grab him," she ordered, pointing to Logan.

A bullet passed so close to Alec's head it practically parted his hair. That was all the motivation he needed to obey. He once again grabbed Logan and this time bit back a cry of pain as the taller man's weight pulled at his shoulder, not to mention compressed his damaged ribs. Max turned as if to help him, but quickly stopped herself.

They hurried toward the paddy wagon and jumped in the back. Alec half-dropped Logan on the floor and before one of the Transgenics with them had even started the vehicle he had the medical kit open and was looking for supplies so that he could arrange a makeshift transfusion.

The paddy wagon lurched as it began moving and Alec had to brace to steady himself above his patient. He quickly shut out everything else, all distractions, all the sounds, all the talking, all the movement, the sound of gunfire and explosions. His entire focus dwindled down to one single fact. Logan wasn't breathing.

Alec pulled out his pocketknife. He grabbed the plastic tubing Max had given him and cut off a piece a few inches long from one end. He then braced himself above Logan and without hesitation plunged the knife into his neck, cutting a slit through to his windpipe. He had no doubt Max was probably screaming at him, but he didn't hear it. All he was listening for was a breath. Alec grabbed the piece of tubing he'd cut off and forced it into the slit he'd made. It wasn't perfect and Logan was still badly swollen, but it was something. When nothing happened Alec leaned down and sucked on the tube to clear it, spitting blood and whatever else to one side. He leaned back slightly and finally heard the first trickle of air flow into the tube.

He didn't wait for more. Without paying any attention to who he was grabbing, he snagged the closest Transgenic who wasn't Max and forced them to sit. Whoever it was seemed to catch on and began pulling up their shirtsleeve as Alec began rummaging through the stash Max had grabbed from the ambulance. It was pathetically little, but it was all they had.

It took longer than he liked, but finally he managed to set up the roughest, most makeshift transfusion ever attempted in a speeding, bumping, runaway vehicle. When it became clear the transfusion was in progress, Alec felt the energy completely drain out of him. He fell back against the side of the truck and blinked as his vision seemed to go in and out. His hearing became muffled and distant. He heard one thing, though.

"Idiot," Max said, but to Alec's ears it didn't hold the same venom she usually used when talking to him. She nudged him slightly to make him sit forward, and he felt her placing a heavy pad against his bullet wound. He'd forgotten about it in his desperate effort to help Logan.

It was weird really. He didn't know why he'd been trying so hard. He didn't even like the guy all that much.

Max sat down on the floor beside him. Involuntarily, Alec leaned to one side, his head coming to rest on her shoulder. He just didn't have the energy to hold it up any more.

"Thanks," Max whispered.

Oh yeah, Alec thought dimly. _That_ was why.

* * *

_And there you have it. As I said, we'll see where we can wander off… _


	2. Chapter 2

_Part two of the obligatory setup..._

Chapter Two

* * *

Alec woke slowly. He took a quick inventory and decided he wasn't dead. He kind of wished he was with the way he felt, but then being miserable was better than dead. It was one of Manticore's enduring lessons.

He was lying on a concrete floor. He could tell that much. There was something soft under his head, though. Wherever they were smelled old and musty with a nice overlay of mold, and the sounds of people talking lowly seemed to echo a bit. If he had to guess, he'd say they were holed up in an abandoned warehouse. It wouldn't be the first time.

Alec felt a warm presence at his side. He pried his eyes open to see Max sitting beside him. It surprised him since she wasn't exactly prone to giving up her personal space, not to mention the fact that Max barely seemed to tolerate him, although things were better than they once were. Maybe his charm was finally wearing her down.

One good look, however, told him all he needed to know. Max wasn't really there for him. She was sitting by him, but she was looking at the figure lying on his back several feet away. Logan was no longer hooked up to anyone and someone had removed the piece of tube Alec had shoved into his throat. He seemed to be breathing on his own and his sores looked only mildly pussy and itchy rather than being signs of impending death, so apparently, they'd once again managed to fend off the virus. The Transgenic blood would fix up the hole in his throat as well.

Max was staring at Logan, her face blank, but Alec could tell the wheels were turning. No doubt, her guilt complex was working overtime at the moment, rightly so if Alec was allowed to give his opinion. It wasn't like she hadn't known the danger.

"You ok?" she asked, and it took Alec a second to realize she was talking to him. He used his good arm to work himself into a sitting position with his back against the wall. His body let him know what a stupid idea it thought that was. The torn muscles in his shoulder momentarily had him thinking about being sick.

He gritted his teeth. "Never better."

"Never better." Max sniffed, still looking at Logan. "So… things were crap before and they're still crap."

As much as he would like to think she was worrying about him, Alec knew that wasn't the case. "He's ok, Max," Alec said quietly. "A few days and you won't be able to tell Logan was even sick."

"I'll know," she said at the same volume. "I'll know and I'll remember I'm an idiot. I stayed away from him because I knew better, then the Jam Pony thing happens and it's all out the window."

"Max-"

She immediately cut him off. "Don't, Alec. I know what you're really thinking, so don't try to make this better."

Since Alec couldn't really argue with that, he decided to remain silent. His own choices had killed Rachel and he would have to live with that for the rest of his life. He wouldn't wish that burden on anyone, especially Max. It was part of the reason he'd tried to convince her to move on.

Max looked away from Logan and turned so she was facing him. The sadness in her eyes struck him first, but it was the determined jut of her jaw that quickly drew his attention. "You tried to tell me and I didn't listen, or I did for a while, then decided I knew better somehow and look what happened."

Alec sighed. While he might think Max being around Logan was idiotic, he also knew that sometimes the smart thing to do got overruled. "Max, there are a lot of things the brain knows that the heart ignores, good and bad."

Max's lips turned up in sad little smile. "Logan's heart nearly turned to soup because of what I ignored."

Alec rolled his eyes. "Way to ruin a metaphor, Max. Don't be so literal."

"Can't get much more literal than killing a guy because you won't stay away from him." She looked down and stopped, visibly thinking her way through it, or talking herself into it. "I'll kill Logan if I keep this up. One day we'll be on our own and there won't be anyone to save him. If Logan's self-preservation instinct isn't going to kick in, then mine's going to have to and this time it has to stick. It _has_ to. Especially with all of this going on now." She pursed her lips and for a second she met his gaze and the loss there, the _guilt_, was unmistakable. "I have enough blood on my hands, Alec," she whispered. "I don't want anyone else I care about hurt because of me."

As Alec had that night when they'd talked about Ben, he moved closer, wanting to comfort her. Because she was facing him, he couldn't put his arm around her this time, so he stretched out his hand and placed it over hers where they were tightly clasped in her lap. He squeezed them gently. "I'm sorry, Max." And he really was. Alec understood all too well about Manticore making sure you couldn't be with the person you loved.

Apparently, that tiny bit of sympathy was the last straw. A tear slipped from her eye and her chin began to tremble. Just as it had before, it cut Alec to the heart. This was Max. Max didn't break down. She didn't allow it. A quiet sob escaped and she quickly put a hand over her mouth to stifle any more. Alec looked around and saw that other than Logan, they were alone, for which he was grateful. The others didn't need to see Max like this.

Alec gave up keeping his distance. He pulled Max so that she was sitting beside him. Max didn't fall into his arms and weep like a normal, brokenhearted woman might have, but it was a testament to how broken up she was that she did allow him to keep an arm around her and rub gentle circles against her shoulder where his hand was resting. They simply remained that way for several minutes until Max seemed to gather herself back together and pulled away from him. She didn't pull completely away, but she made it clear, his sheltering arm was no longer wanted or needed.

"You really think you can stay away from him?" Alec asked into the quiet. He liked to think that if Rachel hadn't been supposedly killed he could have stayed away from her, but somehow he doubted it. With Max's track record, he had his doubts about her as well.

"You have my permission to lock me up if I go near him again," Max stated plainly. "There's love and then there's stupid."

"Max…"

"What? Are you gonna tell me true love conquers all?" She raised an eyebrow. "You of all people?"

"No." He raised his good arm and ran his hand over his face tiredly. "Near as I can tell, true love makes sure we're sorry we ever ran into it."

"Yeah. Well, Logan got dragged down with us and it's up to me to make sure it doesn't kill him. Depressed is better than dead."

"Awww, Maxie," Alec said, putting all of his considerable Manticore taught charm in his voice. "You can't be _completely_ depressed. You've got me!"

It managed to get her to crack a smile which was all he'd wanted. "I thought you were trying to cheer me up, not make me want to hurt myself."

"Don't hurt yourself," he said, all mock seriousness. "I can't carry anybody else today."

Max snorted. "You couldn't carry my shoes right now."

"Not my fault you wear steel boots to kick me when I'm down."

Max and Alec both startled when her cell phone rang. They'd been completely lost to the world for a few moments only to have reality come crashing back around them. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and raised it to her ear.

"Max," she said tersely. Alec only half listened to the person on the other end of the line. He was tired and hurting and more importantly, he really didn't feel like getting dragged into anything else. He was willing to help Max because she was important to him, but everyone else could just wait.

"I thought we had an understanding, Clemente," Max said through tightly clenched teeth. "You were gonna back out and we were all gonna have a nice little standoff. You'd stay on your side of the fence and we'd stay on ours."

Alec sighed and forced himself to concentrate on listening despite how much he didn't really want to. Clemente calling was a problem.

"_I had nothing to do with this, Max. I warned you this was way above my head. I…_"

"Doesn't do much good when my people are getting shot at," she snapped.

"_I know_," he responded calmly. "_I just… wanted you to know this wasn't my doing_." Beneath the cold surface, the guy sounded angry, but it clearly wasn't directed at them.

"I'll remember that while we're on the run."

Clemente was silent for several seconds. "_Just hold on to my number,_" he finally said. "_You never know when it might come in handy_."

"Got it." Max disconnected and shoved the phone back in her pocket as if it were the source of all her frustration.

"How many of us got out?" Alec inquired.

"There are about twenty of us here. I don't know how many went with Mole. I don't even know that they all went with him. I'm sure some broke off in groups or went it alone. Mole won't answer his phone. No one will."

"They've gone to ground," Alec said unnecessarily. Only Max had left her phone on. She'd been out in the world too long and had lost that innate command to cut off communications that could be used to track her.

"But someone should…"

"No, Max," Alec said straightly. "If they took off alone, then they're in the wind and if they went with Mole then they're not on our side anymore. You need to just get the idea out of your head."

Max frowned fiercely. "How can you say that?"

"Max…" He considered how to explain it to her. "Not everyone is as… forward thinking as you are. They're soldiers. That's all they know. Not everyone is as adaptable as you. Mole makes a lot of sense to them and this attack… it would just reinforce what they've been thinking."

"What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying that they're soldiers, Max, and they've just been openly attacked after a temporary ceasefire. What do soldiers do when they're attacked?"

"They fight."

Alec shook his head. He had to make her understand that it was more serious than that. "No, Max. They go to war."

* * *

_I re-watched the last episode of the show and Mole really is a pill in that one. I like making him buddies with Alec post-show, but for the purposes of this story, he's going to be his angry, awful self who was willing to start shooting hostages._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

* * *

Max closed her eyes, suddenly even more exhausted than she had been. Could this situation get any worse? Not only had they been publicly outted, but now they had no home, no nothing, the government was actively hunting them down, and Mole had taken a massive chunk of the other Transgenics with him because they were pretty sure he was right.

On top of that, she'd almost killed Logan again. _Again_. For someone who was supposed to be so smart, she really was dumb.

Max jumped when Alec smacked the back of her head. "Hey! What was that for?"

"Logan. Moping. You said I could lock you up, but I went with something faster."

Max rubbed the back of her head. "Thanks. I think."

"It'll be our own little aversion therapy program." Alec grinned happily. "Eventually, you'll associate moping about Logan with getting smacked on the head and you'll decide not to do that anymore."

"I'm not sure I like this idea."

"Tough. It was your idea."

"Yeah, but I'm apparently an idiot."

Alec chuckled. "Since you love telling me I'm an idiot, we'll be idiots together, except now I get to smack _you_ for being stupid."

For some bizarre reason, that thought made her feel better. She'd been alone for so long, and even with Logan, there had always been problems and distance. With the few friends she'd managed to cobble together, there were lies and hiding and just the differences created because of who she was and how she'd been raised. TC was blown to pieces now, with just a few stragglers left, yet Alec was still here. She'd been annoyed before that she couldn't shake him, but now… and if it helped keep her on the straight and narrow…

"Thanks," she said and meant it. Of course, she then remembered who she was talking to and squelched any further favorable thoughts. Alec was a problem child and he wasn't the one supposed to be making her feel better. Logan was. Or Cindy. A real friend, who might not be a Transgenic, but who got her better than anybody could.

"Come on," Alec said. "We need to talk to the others." He tried to stand and almost fell, but just caught himself on the wall. "Whoa."

Max moved closer, ready to grab him if he started to fall again. Even a Transgenic could recover only so fast. In the back of the paddy wagon, she'd been concentrating so hard on what Alec had been doing to try to help Logan that she hadn't noticed that Alec had been bleeding again. She'd forgotten all about his injuries when she'd ordered him to pick up Logan. "You ok?"

"I could use a weekend in Tahiti." He raised his eyebrows suggestively. "Care to join me?"

She shook her head. "You really do know how to ruin a moment, don't you?"

Alec made a show of being taken aback. "What? I hear you're single again."

"Alec!" she snapped, aghast.

His look was all innocence. "Too soon?"

"Jerk. Try years too soon." She added a glare for good measure.

"Ah. Good to know."

"How is that good to know?" she demanded.

Alec just smirked. "I'll be sure to let the others know you're still off limits."

Max caught a mischievous glint in his eye and didn't like it one bit. "Whatever. No more smart remarks."

"Hey, all my remarks are smart. I can't help it if you're single again and surly about it."

Max's eyes narrowed. She knew he was baiting her to get her to own her new status, but it didn't make it any easier. "Shut up."

"Yes, ma'am."

"And don't call me ma'am." Alec opened his mouth to say something else and Max glared at him again. He laughed, and doubled over slightly, an arm wrapped around his ribs.

"See what you get?" she said.

"I get broken ribs after an evil, genetically engineered she-devil tries to shove them through my spine?"

"Yup. Smart mouths get the crap beat out of them."

"So why are you still walking around without a scratch?" Alec shot back.

"I'm special."

"Oh, you're special all right."

While they were talking, Alec carefully straightened and stood away from the wall. Max moved beside him and stayed close as they walked toward the others, her attention split between him and the other Transgenics who were sitting here and there in small clumps.

As she came into view, all the other conversations in the room abruptly died. Everyone turned to face her, some with anger on their faces, others with hope, some with sorrow, or fear.

"Where's Joshua?" Alec asked quietly.

"The car he was in got separated while we were running. Haven't been able to get hold of them either. Got hold of O.C., though. She and Sketch got picked up leaving Terminal City. They let Sketchy go right away cause he's an idiot, but they kept Cin for a while."

"She ok?"

"They finally let her go. They're probably watching her hoping one of us will show up there." Alec nodded and Max cleared her throat to get everyone's attention, not that it was necessary. "Everybody still ok?" she asked the room at large.

There were several nods, a few shrugs, and quite a few glares of "Why are you asking stupid questions?"

"Ok, then…" Max squared her shoulders. She knew that of all times, she was going to have to look strong now. "Everybody's had some time to think. Anyone have any ideas where we can go? They're going to be checking from building to building and we can't stay here."

"If anybody mentions the sewers, so help me," Alec said in mock warning. Several of the others smiled and Max was grateful that he was there to help relieve the tension. That just wasn't one of the things she was really good at.

A guy sitting in a small group to her left held up his hand to get her attention. He was a little taller than most and had longer dark hair. If Max had to guess, he'd given up on the military haircut almost immediately after Manticore burned. "I have an idea," he said. "It might not work forever, but it should work until the situation cools down a bit. It's where I was before I found out about TC."

"What is it?"

"There's a school not far from here. It used to be a big fancy one, but after the Pulse they couldn't afford to keep it all up so they shut off about a third of it. It doesn't have heat or electricity, but it's a lot of room that nobody ever goes in. As long as you stay quiet and out of sight while the kids are around and you're careful, nobody even knows you're there."

"Sounds good, Abe," Alec said.

Max glanced over at him. Leave it to Alec to know everyone's name. Max also noticed Abe was almost beaming. Max wasn't sure why, but earning a word of approval from Alec always seemed to make everyone's day. She didn't really understand it since Alec tended to be pretty liberal with praise, but it was still true. People just seemed to respond to him, and while in the past that might have annoyed her, at the moment it was actually a comfort. She was going to need Alec if they were going to get through this and stay together. In just the time she'd been away looking in on Logan and then sitting with Alec, several Transgenics had disappeared and she seriously doubted they'd just stepped out for a drink. They were probably halfway to the Canadian border and part of her thought that was probably a good idea.

"Abe, you and the others work on a plan to get us into the school," Max suggested. "It'll be dawn in a couple of hours and we'll have to move before then."

"On it." He sat back down with the group he'd been talking to earlier. He'd probably already been working on a plan with them, so at least they had that going for them.

Max turned to Alec and waved him to one side. "We need to know what's going on out there. Do you know anyone who can help us with that?"

Alec smirked. "So now that we're in trouble, you're willing to put up with Alec and his lowlife contacts?"

"Basically." She shrugged, then more seriously she asked, "What exactly did you mean when you said the others would go to war?"

"What do you think I meant?"

"I just want to be sure."

Alec pursed his lips and Max had the impression he was deciding how much of the truth she could handle. Of course, it was Alec and ever since the near-miss brain bombing, he was usually pretty straight with her when it came down to it. He sighed. "Honestly, it depends."

"On what?"

"Several factors, actually. First of all, it'll depend on how many of them stick together. Mole's first reaction is always to go to ground, but if my guess is right, he's not going to be in charge. Mole's a loudmouth, but he falls in line when there's a stronger personality around. If they've got a real leader in their bunch, then Mole and the others will do what they're told. What happens after that will also depend."

"On what?"

"Prisoners."

"Huh?"

Alec gave her a look as if she wasn't too bright. "If they caught any of us coming out of Terminal City, the others will see them as a priority."

"So will I," Max replied indignantly.

"Don't get all bent outta shape," Alec said, sounding far more serious than she was used to him being. "I'm just telling you how it is."

"Fine," she bit out.

"They'll focus on getting our people out of enemy hands, and they won't care about casualties while they're doing it."

"And once they've done that?"

"Retaliation," he said simply.

"How bad?"

"Could be a little, could be a lot. Depends on how much influence the cooler heads have in the group." Alec rubbed a hand absentmindedly over his injured shoulder. "It could be the equivalent of a terrorist cell taking out specific targets to teach the ordinaries a lesson, or it could be a full scale military type attack to gain back territory that they feel has been taken."

"They'll fight to get Terminal City back?"

It was Alec's turn to shrug and he winced at the movement. "Maybe. The transhumans were pretty entrenched there before we showed up." He paused for a moment in thought. "I need a TV, or at least a radio. I need to know the situation before I can make a real assessment."

"The radio in the paddy wagon took some damage while we were getting out."

Alec nodded. "Ok, I'll call my guy and get that first, or if this school is still rich kid central then I'll be able to lift something from them."

Just then a young woman blurred up next to them, skidding to a halt. "They're coming."

Max gritted her teeth. The others had set up lookouts as soon as they'd arrived in the old warehouse. The people chasing them weren't going to give up just because they'd lost sight of them.

"How far?" Max asked. The other Transgenics had heard and were already on their feet preparing to mobilize.

"They're two buildings south of here and headed this way doing a building to building sweep. We have to go."

"Abe, you got a plan yet?" Alec called.

"Yeah, but you're not gonna like it," Abe called back.

"Let me guess." Alec shook his head in disbelief, and Max almost grinned.

Then, at exactly the same time Abe, Alec and Max said, "The sewers."

* * *

_More soon…_


	4. Chapter 4

_Thank you for all the kind reviews. You guys are the best_.

Chapter Four

* * *

"Can you move?" Max asked Alec, who immediately looked offended.

"Yeah."

"Just asking," she said, voice dripping with disbelief, "cause up until a few minutes ago you were out cold." In truth, he still looked like death warmed over and he was badly favoring his injured shoulder.

"And now I'm not." He smiled, all charm. "Put me in, Coach. I can do it."

She shook her head. "I have no idea what that means."

"It means quit talking and let's go, Miss I've-been-out-in-the-world-so-long."

Max ignored the jibe and her eyes trailed toward where Logan was still lying on his makeshift pallet. Almost immediately, she was smacked on the back of the head.

"What did I say?" Alec sing-songed.

Max shot him another nasty glare, but took the hint. "You'll take care of him?"

Alec rolled his eyes. "No, Max. We're going to leave him here to be picked up and interrogated by the police."

"Just… promise me," she said, for once completely sincere. Logan was everything she'd dreamed of and now could never have. She couldn't bear to think of not being the one to make sure he was ok, or at least that he made it through this latest disaster.

Alec put both of his hands on her shoulders and leaned down slightly so that they were eye to eye. "I promise, Max. He's going to be ok. The virus is done for now and I'll make sure he gets back home safely."

Max just nodded. That was the best she could do for now.

Alec turned away and headed toward a group of Transgenics who were done gathering their meager belongings. The Transgenics straightened as he approached as if being approached by a superior officer. Alec smirked and gestured in a near "At ease," then started speaking while the others nodded. It only took a few seconds, then they headed toward Logan.

Alec walked back toward her, took her arm and began pulling her the other way. "Come on, Max. We have a sewer to visit."

* * *

The school wasn't so bad, Max thought. A bit dirty, a little broken down, but then what wasn't these days? Part of it was even a group of old dormitories. Turns out the rich kid school had been a boarding school back in the day.

Since the Pulse, rich people either couldn't afford to farm their kids out anymore, or they felt safer sending their kids back and forth to school with armed bodyguards. It was either that or your kid got kidnapped and held until you coughed up the money to get them back. Desperate times and all that.

Everyone else was sacked out on the bunks, but Max couldn't rest. She had already spent a bit of time prowling around their new quarters checking everything out. Other than the dorm rooms, there were a couple of kitchenette type areas, a few rooms which were probably study rooms that still had chairs and tables, and a couple of larger rooms that had probably had TVs and games, etc, at some point, although everything that was worth anything had long since been removed.

Once she'd looked around, however, she'd had nothing left to do but think. That, unfortunately, led to nothing good. Once again, everything she'd touched had completely fallen apart. The transhumans had been doing fine in Terminal City until she'd showed up and led the authorities right to them. Logan had been fine until she'd given in and admitted Alec wasn't really her boyfriend and the very same day she'd nearly killed him again. The Transgenics had all been together, all working together, and now they were broken into pieces, factions even, not to mention some of them might have been captured or killed trying to get away from Terminal City. Her grand idea of making a stand hadn't lasted more than a few hours. Max would say she was a train wreck but what she was, in fact, was a forest fire devouring everything in her path.

"Don't make me hit you again, Max. My hand's starting to hurt."

Max looked over at the only other Transgenic still awake. Alec was sitting across the table from her, one foot propped on the edge, leaning the chair back precariously on two legs. He had his bad arm resting across his ribs. With his other hand, he was holding an old radio he'd managed to snag from somewhere while she hadn't been paying attention, listening to the news through one earplug. The other dangled on his chest, allowing him to hear the news while also listen to his environment.

"Sorry," Max snapped. "I'll try to be more cheerful in our dire circumstances."

"Good." He nodded, his expression serious. "That's what I like to hear. Because you're not dead, I'm not dead, Logan's resting peacefully at home and we have a roof over our heads."

"Fine. Life's all puppies and rainbows."

Alec frowned, clearly not amused for once. "The puppies all went with Mole and the sun never comes out in this waterlogged town. I'm not telling you to dance with happiness. Just… things could be worse for us."

Max looked at him for a second and realized he knew something. He'd been listening to his radio for a while now. "What is it?"

"Nine dead," he answered. "They took the bodies to the city morgue for study, but the latest is that the military came in and secured them. Don't know if that means the real military or if White's people came in and took them."

_Nine dead_. Nine people who she'd convinced to stay in Terminal City and take a stand. It felt like someone had landed a punch directly over her heart. "Who?" Max could barely get the word past her strangled throat.

"No way of knowing," Alec answered matter-of-factly. "We don't know who went with Mole, who went it alone, and who's dead."

"Anything else?"

"Two in custody. They're not saying where."

Max closed her eyes, freshly horrified, her mind flying in all different directions, wondering how she was going to free them. If she weren't a Transgenic, she'd have a massive headache right now. "What does all of that mean?"

"Well," he drew the word out, "it means that most of us got away and the people with Mole have managed to hole up somewhere. Mole was ready to start shooting humans during the Jam Pony thing, and he's not the only one who'd think that way, so, my best guess, they're about as angry as a group of dispossessed super-soldiers can get and as soon as they get themselves together, it's going to get ugly."

"Are you sure?" She couldn't help asking. After all, she really didn't know much about Alec's training at Manticore. He could have been trained to be an assassin/camp cook for all she really knew.

"You can take the soldiers out of Manticore, but you can't take Manticore out of the soldiers," he replied lightly, although there was nothing amusing about the sentiment.

They fell silent for several minutes while Alec continued to listen. Max was momentarily tempted to grab the other earpiece and listen as well, but that would require sitting right next to Alec, which she was not prepared to do. She'd already been way too up close and personal with him today for her comfort levels. She couldn't really fault him since he hadn't been a jerk about it, but still… Alec. Ever since they'd talked about Ben things had been different between them, easier. She hadn't really had time, though, to know what to do about it.

"So," she cleared her throat, to get his attention again, "what do we do?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Who says we have to do anything?"

"Are you kidding?"

"Hey," Alec smirked, "I'm a self-serving jerk who just wants to live a leisurely life of minding my own business."

She scowled. "Yeah. There is that." Max shook her head in disgust. "No matter what you say we have to find the two they caught. They're our people."

"No point." Alec brushed the idea aside. "The others are going to be way ahead of us on that."

"How are you so sure? They could've been forced to hole up for a while just like us. We don't even know that they stuck together. They could've broken up into little groups and gone to ground."

"Probably some of them did break off and head for the border. There's a group though that stuck together. Some of us are loners, but a lot have the pack mentality. Two of those pack kind are the best silent recon specialists Manticore ever produced. They'd be out looking even if someone didn't tell them to because they protect pack members. They have the best chance of finding those two and figuring the best way to get them out, bar none."

Max tried not to let it grate on her that once again she knew so little about the others and their training. At times it felt like they were in a secret club and even though she had a membership card, she didn't get all the privileges or the info. "Fine," she bit out. "Then what do we do about this other group since you're so sure they're going to go all military justice."

"Max…"

"Don't tell me you don't want to do anything about _that_."

Alec looked at her, a grave expression on his face, something she'd rarely seen. "Let's just say I have mixed feelings."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Max felt her temper beginning to ratchet higher. This was the last conversation she'd expected to have. Alec was supposed to go along with her. It's just what he did.

"I'm saying Mole and the others are angry and maybe I get where they're coming from."

"But-"

"Cece is dead, Max." His eyes were piercing, unrelenting as they stared at her. "You didn't know her like the rest of us did. Biggs is dead. I was a 'hostage' and they _shot_ me to get to a transhuman. We weren't doing anything but hiding in a quarantine zone and they tried to _blow us up_. _Nine_ more of us are _dead_. Maybe I have some mixed feelings about how hard I want to keep Mole from doing some damage."

"You can't possibly-"

Alec rolled his eyes. "I _know_. It's bad. We're not terrorists and we can't just take out the ordinaries who want to kill us. It doesn't mean I'm not angry and that part of me doesn't want to make someone pay." He shrugged, his mouth curled up on one side in a half-smirk. "I have issues. Tell me something I don't know."

For several seconds, Max just looked at him and it was almost like looking at a stranger. She was so used to his usual easygoing ne'er-do-well persona, that when she saw this side of him, this serious, dangerous side, it was always… unsettling. She supposed that if ever there was a time for this side of him to make an appearance, though, it was now.

Alec continued to gaze at her, a stern look on his face. "Sometimes… you think like one of them."

"Who?"

"Ordinaries."

"How's that?" she demanded angrily. She had spent years feeling separated from regular humans, desperately looking for her brothers and sisters. Then Manticore had burned and she'd worked tirelessly trying to protect the Transgenics who'd been freed.

Alec shrugged. "I'm just saying… Your first reaction is to jump to regular people's defense. Stands to reason since you've been out so long. You were living with them while the rest of us were trying to survive Manticore."

"I'm trying to keep everybody safe. _Everybody,_" she emphasized. "If Mole does something stupid like he wanted to do at Jam Pony, they really will hunt us all down."

Alec nodded and sighed. "I know. Mole's not really a big picture kind of guy. Hopefully, the new person in charge will be. Maybe we'll get lucky and they won't try anything nuts."

They fell silent again, Alec listening to his radio, while Max stewed over what he'd said. No matter which way she looked at it, she didn't like it.

"I don't think like one of them," Max suddenly blurted. She didn't know why the thought bothered her so much, but it did.

"Fine."

"I don't."

Alec just looked at her. "_Fine_."

"Then why did you say it?" she demanded.

"Because you still think we can live with them, or find a happily ever after. Nothing we do, kill them, don't kill them, it doesn't matter. They're never going to accept us, Max. There's no living the American Dream, not for us. Since the Pulse, it's dog eat dog, and we're getting our asses chewed. There's a reason we were trained for covert work. It's because all it takes is one good infantry division and we're all toast. You're worried about how to keep the _humans_ safe, when there are a couple hundred of us, tops. Numbers, Max. We're outnumbered by about two _billion_. When it comes down to it, unless we hide, they can kill us any time they want to. And right now? They really, really want to."

"So what are _you_ thinking about, if I'm so different?" So maybe she sounded a _bit_ like a snotty fifteen year old. It couldn't he helped.

"I'm trying to figure out how to get to the others," Alec stated plainly. "You were right about one thing. We can stick together. We just can't do it in plain sight and thumb our noses at the Ordinaries. They won't stand for it obviously. If we can get to the others before they do anything crazy, we can all get out of this alive."

"You've got it all figured out, huh?" she sneered.

Alec looked up, and Max almost thought he looked surprised, and she wondered just how much of that he'd meant to say out loud. Finally, he shook his head and gave her a classic Alec grin. "Nah. You know me. I just like to skate by. You're the one in charge. This is your show."

Max sighed heavily. She wasn't sure what she was. Her great "Let's make a stand" idea had literally been shot down. She didn't have a clue what to do now. Should they make a break for it? Let Mole and his people muddle through while she tried to do the best with her bunch? Should she endanger the people with her to keep the others from doing something crazy? Could she live with herself if she didn't do something to stop them?

Alec sat forward abruptly, his chair thumping back onto four legs. "Breaking news," he said, and Max too sat forward, waiting to hear. "There's been an incident…"

"Where?"

"A precinct house in sector four. They don't know anything yet, but there was a small explosion. The sector police aren't saying anything. They'll tell us more as soon as they know."

"They went in and got the two," Max guessed. It felt so good to say it and it was a weight off her shoulders. Unfortunately, it also gave more credence to what Alec had been telling her. He really did know what the others were probably doing.

Suddenly, Alec cocked his head to one side. Max's own ears perked as well at a very distinct sound, one she never wanted to hear, men trying to move quietly while heavily armed and wearing body armor.

"Someone must've seen the guys coming back in from Logan's," Alec hissed, already rising to sprint toward the beds where the others were sacked out.

Max knew he wouldn't make it, though. The gunmen were coming for them and they were too close. The building was probably surrounded.

They were caught. Like rats in a trap.

* * *

_More soon…_


	5. Chapter 5

_Let's see… When last we met, there were armed men closing in on the school where our heroes were hiding out…_

Chapter Five

* * *

Alec let out a high-pitched, staccato whistle, all the while mentally swearing. The whistle was a set signal that should immediately wake the others and let them know trouble was on the way. He'd let himself get distracted and now they were all going to pay for it. The building was probably surrounded and there was no telling how many people had been sent to bring them in.

Alec heard the doors in the room they'd been sitting in being bashed open. He looked back and saw that Max was following close behind him. She looked like she was thinking the same thing he was. They were so screwed.

Alec ran through the door to the dorm area with Max right behind him only to come to a screeching halt. There were already several men in the room, all armed to the teeth, dressed completely in black, body armor included, holding the others at gunpoint.

"Stop right where you are and don't move," one of the men barked, turning his fully automatic weapon on Alec and Max.

"Absolutely," Alec said easily. "We don't want any trouble."

"Shut it," the man snarled.

Alec heard the men who'd kicked in the other door coming up behind him and every instinct he had told him to turn and face them head on, but the gun in his face was a definite deterrent.

"Right," the chosen spokesmen for the gunmen said. "All of you. Into the other room, nice and easy."

With no other option but to obey, Alec and Max turned and walked back the way they'd just come followed by the others who been sleeping. If Alec was counting right, a few more of them had disappeared at some point and given their present circumstances, Alec couldn't really blame them for deciding to head out on their own. They were down to maybe ten Transgenics now in addition to him and Max.

The gunmen escorted them back toward the larger room, a group in front and a group behind keeping them covered at all times. There were several more gunmen in the main room giving them a total of about twenty people and once they were in the more open space, the gunmen shifted so that they were in front and to one side so that there was no danger of catching each other in a crossfire.

"On your knees," the leader ordered.

"Look," Abe said, drawing the gunmen's attention, "we just-"

The leader dropped him with a single bullet. Abe thumped to the floor, half of his head missing. Whatever kind of bullets they were using, they were enough to take down a rhino. Or a Transgenic.

Several of the others let out gasps. Max made a sound not unlike a wounded animal before she managed to stifle it. For his part, Alec forcibly put his feelings aside despite everything inside him wanting to cross the space and tear the lead gunman's head off. Abe was dead and he couldn't fix that now. He had to focus.

"I said… on. your. knees."

The others began to comply, although Max and Alec were definitely slower about it. Alec studied the men and the very, very expensive, state of the art equipment they were carrying. They definitely weren't sector police. They weren't regular military and they weren't White's people either, who had a very definite style and this wasn't it.

Alec turned his gaze back to the man who was giving the commands and whatever fleeting hope he'd been feeling for a clean getaway completely left him. Alec recognized a kindred spirit, or at least another assassin when he saw one. Alec had been well trained and he knew others like him. These people weren't here to arrest them. These men were here to put them down like dogs.

Alec looked toward Max and saw that she'd also come to the same conclusion. No doubt the others knew the score too and were waiting for orders. Abe was dead and the rest of them would be as well in about ten seconds if they didn't do something fast.

They weren't armed, not like the men anyway, but they had one thing working for them - Transgenic speed.

Alec let out another whistle and the others flew into action. They were outnumbered two to one and the gunmen weren't stingy with the bullets. Almost immediately, Alec saw two Transgenics stumble and fall, but he didn't have time to worry about that. He focused on the men in front of him and used every dirty trick Manticore had ever taught him to disarm and disable them. He felt a bullet tear through the flesh on his left side and it only made him angrier. He was getting seriously tired of hiding in rat holes only to be told he wasn't good enough for that particular rat hole.

Alec gave a nasty uppercut to the closest man's nose and didn't even pause when he felt the bone give way. After that it was a blur of movement and fighting. Max fought beside him and as always he was impressed with the compact and fierce, yet graceful way she fought. She may have been short a few years' training, but the streets had been just as constant a teacher.

As a coordinated group, they all fought and moved their way toward the emergency exit they'd chosen earlier. Alec and Max held the gunmen off while the others left first, before unleashing a final flurry of punches, jabs and kicks, enough to shove the gunmen back and slam the metal fire door behind them and lock it.

Almost immediately, the gunmen began beating on the door. Alec, Max and the others took a few seconds to catch their breath.

"Who'd we lose?" Max asked over the clang of metal on metal.

"Nick and Bear," a Transgenic named Tiny answered. She was barely five feet tall. Alec had always been surprised that Manticore had kept her around since she was so small, but then he'd seen her fight and she was like a ferocious little badger ready to tear the face off anyone who got in her way. Alec had been ordered to spar with her one day and he'd quickly been reminded not to judge a book by its cover, especially at Manticore.

"You're sure they're gone?" Max asked.

"Yeah," Tiny answered with certainty. "They're as dead as Abe."

Alec just nodded. Tiny never pulled any punches. In better circumstances, he had a feeling she'd get along great with Max.

"I don't know about the rest of you," Tiny continued, "but this isn't working. I'm heading for the border and I'm gonna hide 'til they forget Transgenics ever existed."

Several of the others nodded and once again Alec couldn't really blame them. Alec glanced at Max and he could see that she was torn. He knew how badly she wanted to keep everybody together so that she could play den mother, but this… this was beyond anything that she could fix. They weren't trying to catch them anymore. They were trying to eradicate them. An assassination squad was the last step.

"Try to stay in pairs," Alec said. "You need one to watch while the other sleeps. You got it?"

The others nodded and in about two seconds they were gone in a blur of motion. Max was looking at him like he was the devil for allowing them to go. Alec ignored that and grabbed her hand. The metal fire door was beginning to give way and they had to leave.

Alec pulled her in the same direction that the others had gone toward their real exit. There was a tiny access door into the sewer. Even if the building was surrounded, they should be able to get out that way.

Because he wouldn't be working with Max if they didn't end up back in the sewer. His day just got better and better.

* * *

Alec dropped Max's hand as soon as she was moving in the right direction. He could feel how angry she was, although he wasn't sure if she was madder at him or at the goon squad or just life in general. Max was a gifted woman, though. She was probably pissed at all three.

The others had left the grate open for the entrance to the sewers seeing as how they were only a few seconds ahead of them. Alec dropped down first and Max quickly followed, stopping just long enough to pull the grate over the hole.

The lighting was dim, but it didn't make a lot of difference to a Transgenic. It was still enough to see that Max was bleeding.

"Are you all right?" he asked. He stepped close enough to pull her leather coat to one side. Max smacked his hand away, however, before he could tell where the blood was coming from.

"I'm fine," she snapped. "Let's go."

"Max, I can smell how much blood there is."

"Shut up," she ordered. "You're bleeding, too, and we don't have time for this."

Even as she said it, Alec's head snapped up. The men were approaching the grate. Alec just wasn't sure whether they would figure out they'd disappeared into the sewers.

"There," the leader says. "Open it. The rats have gone back to their home."

"Well, that answers that question," Alec muttered.

Max was already moving away and he followed. He hoped she knew where she was going, because he certainly didn't. The sewers annoyed him like few places did. He might have a completely crap-filled life, but that didn't mean he had to literally slog around in it.

"They're too fast," Max whispered, glancing back.

Alec took a better look and saw that not only was she not moving as fast as she should, she was beginning to list to one side. She was also right. The men were gaining on them.

Alec quickly looked around them. There had to be a place to hide. They were in a sewer after all. There were pipes and nooks and crannies and twists and turns, etc. There had to be something. He hurried ahead of Max, ignoring his own injuries. It definitely looked like Max was in worse shape.

Alec got far enough ahead that they would definitely be out of sight and began looking frantically for a place to hide. It took a bit, but he finally saw it just as Max came alongside him. He jerked her into the cubby hole he'd seen. It was pitch black in the corner behind a set of pipes that were shoehorned into the cutout in the flat section of brick. The gunmen would hopefully be in a hurry and would go right past them. Even if they looked in, they would only see the pipes if Max and Alec could make themselves small enough.

Alec shoved her into the tiny space and quickly squeezed in behind her. She twisted so that she was facing him, but Alec moved closer just the same until she was pressed into the wall.

"What do you think you're doing?" she hissed.

"For once in your life," he said through gritted teeth, "just go with it, Max. I don't wanna die because you have personal space issues. Got it?"

She pushed at him weakly, but Alec grabbed her hands and pulled them up so they were pressed between their chests. "Leave them there," he ordered. He let go of her and grabbed his leather jacket by the neck and pulled it up so that it covered his head and Max's face. He had to cover their exposed skin or it might give them away.

Just as he was finished adjusting the jacket, he heard the gunmen coming. He wrapped his arms around Max's neck and pulled her close, at the same time pressing them both into the wall to hide as much as he could behind the pipes.

"You're going to pay for this," Max bit out, her mouth against his ear.

"If we live, you can kill me," he replied easily. In truth, he was just as worried about Max as he was about the gunmen. She was trying to sound tough, but her voice was growing weaker, and the scent of blood was becoming overpowering in the little nook they were occupying. He could only hope the men moved past them quickly so he could take a look at her.

Alec froze stock still at the sound of quiet footsteps scratching in the grit on the concrete floor. The leather jacket was enough to throw off his hearing a bit, but the man couldn't be more than a few feet away from their hiding spot. Max's hands were still pressed to his chest, and her fingers tightened into fists around the cloth of his t-shirt which made Alec want to either laugh or cry, he wasn't sure which. Max was a good-looking woman, and Alec wasn't immune to her charms, but this was so far from the kind of snuggling in a corner he preferred that it wasn't even funny.

Alec heard several men move past. He waited a few minutes to be sure and was just about to move when he heard it again, the quiet scraping of a booted foot through the grit on the floor. One of the men had to be standing right outside their hiding place.

Suddenly, Max's head fell forward and landed on his shoulder. The rest of her began to sag in his arms. Alec couldn't really move without giving away their position. His only option was to use his own body to pin her to the wall and keep her there. It wouldn't work for long. Gravity and her body weight were working against him, but he had to keep her still until the gunman moved away.

The stench of blood was becoming overwhelming such that Alec was almost desperate to sneeze just to clear his nose. That would definitely give them away, so Alec resorted to holding his breath. If the jerk outside didn't move before Alec needed to breathe again, he'd just have to take his chances, put the guy down and hope the others weren't close enough to hear him.

"Anything?" It sounded like the leader again, but Alec couldn't be sure. He was more concerned about Max. Her cheek was pressed to his and he could tell her temperature was dropping. Something was very, very wrong and he needed to get her out of there.

"Nothing," one of the other gunmen said, and wasn't it just Alec's luck that they decided to have their little confab right outside his hidey hole. "They warned us they were fast. They must've gotten away from us."

"Fine. Call it in. We'll set up a cordon and try to keep them bottled in at least."

"Yes, sir."

Alec heard them move away and not a moment too soon. He let his jacket fall back and put his arms around Max so he could pull her out of the tiny space back into the main sewer tunnel. The jarring movement seemed to wake her and she tried to help him, but barely managed more than to get her feet to move a bit.

"Logan," he heard her mutter.

"No, Max," he said impatiently. "It's Alec." If he had to hear about poor Logan and their doomed love one more time he was going to hit something.

"No." She shook her head before letting it fall back against his chest. "Logan. Go there."

"Max, I'm pretty sure we agreed you weren't going to hang out with him anymore." Alec held her away from him and gave her a quick once over. He immediately saw the source of the problem. Her arm was practically a river of blood. She must've nicked an artery. Alec awkwardly set her down on the ground and then ripped away the lower section of her shirt.

"What… doing?"

"Keeping you from bleeding to death. Besides, if you're going to play a warrior maiden, you shouldn't mind the bare midriff look."

"Ass."

Alec pulled her jacket off and tied the piece of torn cloth tightly around her bicep. If she'd been human, she would've already been dead. As it was, she was unbelievably pale beneath her normal olive coloring. Transgenics could work with a lower blood volume and give their bodies a little time to heal wounds, which they would do soon enough. Even they had their limits, though, and Max looked borderline at best.

"Logan," she said again.

"Max, you're already hurt. Don't make me hit you." Just once could the woman acknowledge him while he was trying to save her?

"Already… searched that area," she explained. "Hide. Find others. Warn them."

Alec sighed. He should have known it wouldn't be that easy. She wanted to locate the others and warn them about the death squad. Being a self-centered jerk really made life a lot simpler. And then he met Max.

Alec put her jacket back on, pulled her up, and then picked her up in his arms. His entire body screamed that he was a complete idiot for doing that and he was going to pay dearly for it later, but Alec ignored that. Max was a lot worse off than he was and it had to be done.

Alec centered himself, working out where he was and which direction he needed to go. He shouldn't have complained about the sewers. It was better than facing Logan and watching Max fumble around until she figured out there were other options for her. In the meantime, he'd just protect her and bide his time until she woke up.

* * *

_More soon… A very happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Americans and to everyone else a very pleasant Thursday to you!_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

* * *

Alec nearly fell through the back door of Joshua's old house. Only his pride and sheer determination kept him from dropping Max on the floor. He'd long since given up on carrying her bridal style. Chivalry had never got him very far, and especially not when he'd been beaten and shot. After nearly dropping Max during the trek through the sewer, he'd hoisted her over his uninjured shoulder and moved as quickly as he could, which wasn't saying much.

Alec stumbled into the front room and leaned forward over the sofa, allowing gravity to pull Max down. She immediately slumped over. With his last bit of energy, Alec pulled her feet up and then raised her head and shoulders so that he could tumble down beside her, then let her head rest in his lap. Her arm wasn't bleeding as badly and he hoped it was because of the pressure on the wound and not that she was simply out of blood to pump.

Alec looked up to see a bleary-eyed Logan weave his way into the room. He looked like death warmed over, sores still very visible on his face. "Alec?"

"You're not dead. Good for you." Alec's smile was wobbly. "Us, too, come to think of it." It was better than he could say for Abe and the others. And Cece. And Biggs. And the nine who'd died in the opening attack. His vision was going in and out and he really hoped he was going to pass out. His side hurt, his chest hurt, his shoulder hurt. Everything hurt.

Alec rested his head on the back of the sofa and set a hand on Max's shoulder. If she moved it would hopefully wake him and he could keep her from rolling off onto the floor. Logan certainly wasn't going to be able to help her, not unless he wanted it to be the last thing he ever did. Granted, Alec didn't really want Logan helping her. Max was relying on him to keep her Logan-free and he didn't want to mess that up. Alec liked being the one she turned to when she needed something.

"Take a load off, Logan," he suggested. "Max and I are gonna take a little nap. Tell you about it all later."

"Alec, what's going _on_?"

"Later," Alec slurred.

"What's wrong with her?"

"Shot. Got the leak plugged, I think." Alec wasn't really sure any of that was intelligible, and he didn't really care. He pulled Max a little closer and shut his eyes. He'd just rest for a while and then they'd come up with a plan to get out of this death squad-infested town.

* * *

Max woke suddenly. She knew she hadn't meant to fall asleep. The last thing she remembered was Alec trying to hold her up in the nook they'd been hiding in. She'd been bleeding, she knew that much, but there hadn't been anything she could do about it with the goon squad chasing them. Max looked down at her arm and saw that someone, presumably Alec, had tightly wrapped a piece of cloth around the wound. Maybe she wouldn't kill him for groping her. Yet.

Max blinked her eyes and tried to take in her surroundings. She was at Logan's. She _definitely_ didn't remember that happening. She was lying on a sofa with a blanket draped over her. She began to shift and immediately stopped when she realized she wasn't alone. There was an arm wrapped around her, warm and protective, keeping her from rolling off the edge of the sofa.

For just a moment, Max remained where she was enjoying the cocoon of warmth and the comforting feeling of having someone close, of sleeping with a protective arm around her. It was a luxury she hadn't had… ever. And it couldn't be Logan. That thought quickly roused her, and she realized that the hand wrapped around her was resting against the bare skin of her stomach, so it _definitely_ wasn't Logan. She lifted the blanket and looked down to see that the hem of her shirt had been torn away and she guessed that was where the makeshift bandage had come from. It also left quite a bit of skin exposed for whoever it was feeling handsy.

Max turned slightly to find out whose arm was draped across her, and whose warm fingers were touching her. As she turned, she realized not only was the person wrapped around her, Max's head had been resting on the person's leg. If her luck was holding, she had almost no doubt who it was going to be.

As Max turned, the arm around her tightened. "Sleep, Maxie," Alec muttered. "S'ok. We're safe." It had the ring of a repeated phrase and she wondered how many times he'd had to say it while she was out of it. It was oddly… reassuring, and somehow she still didn't want to kill him for getting too up close and personal.

For just a moment, she was tempted to do as he'd said. She was tempted to pull the covers back over her and stay where she was, cocooned in safety, with his protective arm around her. She didn't want to deal with what had happened. She didn't want to remember how many of them were dead, how the rest were scattered. She didn't want to face Logan. For just a few more minutes, she wanted to stay hidden and let Alec keep anyone from bothering her.

That wasn't who she was though.

Max took Alec's hand and lifted it away from where it was resting just above the waistband of her jeans. She raised it just enough that she could slide forward and off the couch. Alec stirred at the movement and she wondered if he was feeling the sudden loss of warmth as she was. She hurriedly picked up the blanket and settled it over him. His eyes fluttered for a moment, but then closed again.

A sudden wave of lightheadedness came over her and Max wondered just how much blood she'd lost. It had to have been impressive, she realized, since she didn't remember their trek here. Looking down at Alec's exhausted face, she felt bad that he'd had to carry her all the way. Before she'd covered him, she'd seen the blood on his clothing. She knew she wasn't the only one to take a hit from the squad sent to kill them.

Max heard a quiet cough in the next room and fell very still. She turned toward the doorway and edged her way closer. It had to be Logan and she didn't have any idea what to say to him. She'd made up her mind and she had to stick to it. There was no falling back this time. None. Absolutely not an option.

Max peeked around the corner and saw Logan sitting in front of his computers. He looked up at the movement and froze when he saw her standing there.

"Hey, Max," he said softly. It was the voice, the gentle one that comforted her and told her he was going to do everything to make it all right. She would miss that voice.

"Hey," she managed to eke out through her tight throat.

"You ok?" Logan stood, probably so he could get a better look at her. His eyes dropped momentarily to her bare midriff, but then rose again to her face. Max almost smiled. Only Logan wouldn't ogle her. "You were really pale when Alec carried you in, but you look a little better."

"Yeah," she said. "Sorry about the mess." Max looked down at her blood-stained clothes. The sofa was no doubt a disaster thanks to her.

Logan shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I'm just glad you're ok."

"You feel all right?" Max studied his face. There were still sores evident on his skin. They weren't nearly as bad as they had been, but they were reminders of why she was about to break his heart all over again. She listened for a second and made sure that he was breathing easily. When he took a deep breath, it also seemed to loosen something in her chest.

"I'm good," he answered. "Whatever you guys did, it worked."

"You can thank Alec." She nodded over her shoulder toward the other room. "Some of the others weren't going to help, but he made it happen."

Logan just nodded. "Max," he paused and looked at her nervously, "we, uh… we need to talk."

Max had just been thinking the same thing, but what came out of her mouth was, "Well, that doesn't sound good."

Logan smiled gently, if a bit sadly. "It shouldn't be anything we don't both already know. It just needs to be said."

"What do you mean?" she asked, although her brain knew exactly what he was talking about and it was screaming "no, no, no," not that it was logical.

"When Alec brought you in, I could tell you were hurt, but…" He suddenly looked away from her, guilt plain on his face. "I was afraid to touch you, Max. That was my gut reaction. I knew something was wrong, but I was afraid to get close enough to look."

Max let out a puff of air and waved his apology away. Normally, her clothes offered a sort of barrier, but she'd been covered in her own blood, a giant walking bio-hazard to him. "Don't worry about it. I'm ok, and you could've got hurt again."

"I know. And the only people who could help if that happened were either in hiding or were bleeding on my couch. Not exactly good odds for a cure."

"Yeah," she acknowledged.

"And not good odds for a relationship either."

Max didn't respond to that one. She knew it was true, but it made her heart hurt too badly to say it.

"Max… as much as I want this to work…" He looked her straight in the eye. "As much as I love you, Max… this can't go on. You were right before and I should have listened."

Somehow, even though it was exactly what Max had been thinking, hearing Logan say it made her angry. It wasn't even close to being rational, but it happened anyway. Before she could stop it, she said, "Are you dumping me?"

Logan shook his head. "No, Max. I'm agreeing with what you already said."

"But-"

"We're adults and we've been acting like two lovesick kids who don't know any better. Me most of all." He looked down and shook his head again. "You tried to tell me. You even used Alec to push me away when I wouldn't listen. I let my feelings overcome my judgment and it nearly killed me, not to mention I was an added burden while you guys were trying to get away." He once again looked at her, the pain that was clearly written in his expression made her own heart hurt. "We could both be dead right now, Max, and it would be our own fault. No, it would be _my_ fault. You tried to do the right thing, and I wouldn't listen."

Max felt tears prick at her eyes. She didn't know what to say. She doubted she could even speak. Once again, Logan was saving her. He'd saved her from having to say all of that, from having to break his heart again. Instead, he'd done all the work for her and simply left her to acknowledge that she agreed. "I'm sorry," she finally whispered.

"So am I."

They fell silent. Max had no idea what else to say. There wasn't anything really. They were adults admitting defeat, as hard as it was. She didn't have to like it, but she did have to own it. They both did. It was simply too dangerous, too foolhardy not to.

"You'd better keep an eye on Alec, by the way."

Max cocked her head to one side in confusion. "What?" Was he more badly injured than she knew? She turned back toward the living room to check on him, but stopped when Logan continued.

"I'm pretty sure he growled at me when I came too close," Logan said with a chagrined laugh.

"He what?"

"I don't think he was even awake, but he was clearly defending you… or at least his territory."

Max's hackles immediately rose, despite the very vivid memory of Alec's arm tightening around her when she woke up and tried to move. "I am not his _territory_."

Logan's smile once again became sad. "He cares about you, Max, and I can't even blame him for it."

"Whatever," she said, although from the look on Logan's face it was definitely something.

"I'm serious, Max." Logan took a deep breath. "Alec woke up for a bit while you were out. He wasn't exactly coherent, but I got the gist of what happened after I was infected."

"He told you about the hit squad?" she asked, ignoring the implications of the rest of what he was saying.

"Yes. And when I told him he could go in the other room to rest, he refused to leave you. He kept mumbling something about having to take care of you." Logan gave her a meaningful look which Max chose to ignore.

"That's because you told him to when he came to tell you the truth about me and him." She worked up a glare, although she hardly felt it. "Thanks for that, by the way. I can take care of myself. I don't need _either_ of you thinking you have to watch out for me."

Logan held up his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay. I didn't mean anything by it, I just…"

He was looking sad again, and Max was sorry for prolonging the conversation. There was no good way for it to end. They both knew what they wanted, what they feared, the practicality of what had to be done, the _reality_ of their situation, but that didn't make it any easier. It was just good old Manticore once again making sure her life was misery and pain. Only they could manage to make her liking a decent guy into a trial by fire that she had no choice but to lose.

Just standing there, looking at him was making her miserable and made her question her decision. Looking at him, however, was the best reminder she had. She could still see the sores on his skin, and see that he was trembling slightly from standing too long when he was barely recovered.

Max jumped when Alec appeared at her side and smacked her on the back of the head. "Ow!"

"Hey, Max." He turned and smiled at Logan. "Hey, man, how are you feeling? I don't think I was actually awake enough to ask when we came in."

Logan cleared his throat and looked down. "Better. Thanks."

"No problem," Alec replied easily. "Thanks for letting us crash here. We didn't have anywhere else to go that didn't qualify as 'squalid'. A guy gets a little tired of hanging out in abandoned factories. Abandoned houses are much more upscale."

"Sure," Logan replied, his eyes darting between Max and Alec uncomfortably before once again falling to look at the floor. Max didn't like where his thoughts were heading and frowned, fresh guilt blooming at how comfortable she'd been with Alec's arm around her on the sofa.

Alec sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "So I take it I've walked in on another awkward break-up?"

"Shut up, Alec," Max snapped, mostly because she felt like she'd been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

"Well, that's a yes." Alec put his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. "I'd leave, but I'm on guard duty." He gave Max a pointed look. "You guys keep staring at each other, though. I'm sure that'll help you work through the grieving process."

"Alec," Logan said quietly, "could you just… give us a minute."

Max was torn. She didn't want to be left alone with Logan, but she didn't want to finish this conversation in front of Alec either, especially not with what Logan had been telling her about how Alec had been acting around her. She looked between the two of them and finally decided that there was no good way to end the conversation with Logan, whether Alec was there or not, so she gave Alec a help-me-out-here look. Maybe she'd manage to stay away from Logan, maybe she wouldn't. It would be painful either way and she'd rather have the buffer.

Alec rolled his eyes, apparently following her thinking. "Ya know," he said under his breath, "one of these days, I'd like you to want me around just because I'm not the worst company."

Max chose to ignore that statement. "We need to figure out our next move. We have to figure out a way to warn the others about the hit squad."

Alec's eyebrows rose. "What do you think Logan's been working on while we were passed out?"

"Oh," was all she managed to say.

Alec huffed in exasperation. "Max, I'll do whatever you want me to do here, but the mixed signals aren't helping." He kept his voice pitched low so Logan couldn't hear. "You ask me to keep you away from Logan. Fine. You get hurt and the first thing you ask me is to take you to Logan. Confusing, but fine. Here we are. Now you want me to stick around so that I can be tortured by the mountain-sized awkwardness going on with you two?" Alec glared at her. "You made a decision, Max. Stick to it. Because this?" He gestured between the two of them. "This is not good for anyone or anything. You two are…" He seemed to realize he was getting louder, loud enough Logan was going to hear, and he stopped abruptly. He shook his head, whether at their behavior or his own, Max wasn't sure. "I'm gonna go clean up. I got shot again, not that you care."

Alec stalked out of the room without a backward glance, leaving a very uneasy silence in his wake. Max stared after him for a moment, stunned. Sometimes she wondered how she'd ever thought he was so easygoing. Too many times now she'd seen this side of him and she was starting to wonder if this wasn't the real Alec, the one he hid behind all the glib remarks and unconcerned smile.

Max turned toward Logan who'd sat down at his computer again while she'd been turned away. It worried her and she wanted to ask if he was feeling ok, but refrained. He was getting better and she couldn't be the one to look after him anymore, especially not when she was the one hurting him in the first place.

Logan shifted uncertainly in his chair. Finally, he cleared his throat and pointed toward the computer in front of him. "I've been trying to find a hint of where the other group went since Alec told me what happened. I should… keep working on that."

"Yeah. I…" She couldn't believe what she was about to say. "I should check on Alec. The gunmen… He got hurt, too."

Logan frowned unhappily, but nodded. "Probably so."

"Are…" She didn't even know how to ask. "Are you ok about this? Not Alec," she quickly added, "I mean… us."

Logan pursed his lips. "Honestly? No." He shrugged. "But we have to face facts."

Max nodded, still reluctant somehow to leave him, even for just a minute to check on Alec. "I'm sorry you got hurt again."

"It happened," he stated plainly. "We both needed the reminder." He frowned. "And as usual we have bigger problems than us."

"Right." Max looked toward the hallway where Alec had disappeared. She heard Logan begin typing again, and supposed that was the end of their conversation. She supposed it was the end of a lot of things.

* * *

_More soon…_


	7. Chapter 7

_Allrighty... Max was off to check on Alec..._

Chapter Seven

* * *

Max walked down the hall toward the bathroom. She could hear the shower running and was momentarily stymied. She didn't want to walk in while Alec was showering and she didn't want to go back and stand there while Logan was working either. Opting for the middle ground, she decided to just wait outside the door.

Listening to the water running made her want to take a shower herself. She was filthy from the sewer and crusted in her own blood. The smell alone was more than she could stand. Unfortunately, Alec's shower seemed to be taking forever. Max got more and more agitated, worried that maybe there was a problem and he was more injured than she knew. Finally, when she was about to go in and check on him anyway, she heard the water shut off and Alec step out of the shower.

They were lucky to have a working shower at all. The house was a dump, but when Alec had been forced to hide out there with Joshua, he'd made a few improvements, mostly for his own comfort. He might have been on the run from the police, but he'd apparently decided a few outings to get the plumbing fixed were a necessity.

Max could hear Alec rustling around in the bathroom and was once again unsure what to do. She definitely didn't want to walk in on him until he was dressed.

"Stop standing outside the door, Max. It's creepy," she heard Alec call.

Max shook her head and opened the door. Alec was standing in the middle of the tiny bathroom using a dingy towel to dry his hair. He had on an old pair of jeans, but no shirt, although she saw what looked like a clean shirt setting to one side of the sink. The most shocking thing, however, was what she could see now that his shirt was gone. He was a _mass_ of bruises. He hadn't been joking about how badly White's people had hurt him. The bruises were deep, deep black, far more than just a few surface bruises. On top of that were the gunshot wounds. His shoulder didn't look any better and it should have at this point. She wondered if he'd reinjured it in the fight with the gunmen. She suddenly remembered the sound he'd made when he'd picked up Logan. It must have torn the injured muscles. Then he'd carried her from the sewer below the school to Logan's, and that was after he'd apparently been shot in the side by the hit squad, a deep graze by the looks of it.

"What do you want, Max?"

Max opened her mouth to answer him but nothing actually came out.

"Let me guess," he said, his tone disgruntled. "I'm an idiot. I'm a jerk. I don't know anything about you and Logan." He stopped drying his hair and threw the towel aside. "I should keep my mouth shut, and you'll rearrange my face if I ever talk to you like that again."

"You were right," Max blurted out, stopping him in his tracks. Alec just raised his eyebrows in disbelief. "You were right," she said again. "I just… I'm not… Are you _ok_?"

Alec sighed, grabbed his t-shirt, and quickly hid his injuries away from her. "I'll be fine. I just need them to leave us alone for a couple of days."

Alec turned his back to her and walked toward the sink. He grabbed a large bandage she hadn't noticed earlier and started to peel back the paper wrapping.

"Let me do that," Max said, feeling a sudden need to be of use.

"I got it."

"Don't be an idiot." Max made a grab for the bandage. Alec saw it coming and pulled away. Max wasn't about to let that stand and reached again. Alec jerked it out of her hand and suddenly gasped. He dropped the bandage and leaned against the sink, using one hand to support himself, while the other was wrapped around his ribs.

"Nice, Max," he said through gritted teeth.

"If you would just let me help," she muttered guiltily. She bent down and picked the bandage up off the floor. It made her a bit dizzy and she had to stop for a second and lean against the sink as well.

Alec turned his head toward her and let out a little puff of a laugh. He winced, but still kept smiling, and shook his head.

"What's so funny?" Max demanded.

"Us. We're stupid."

Max's mouth quirked up on one side and she shrugged. "Maybe." She peeled back the packaging, removed the bandage and said, "Lift your shirt."

Alec sighed and turned toward her. He lifted his shirt and once again, Max was struck by the painful bruising. It would fade relatively quickly, but only if he quit straining himself so badly.

"Like what you see?" Alec asked, although she could tell it was just for show. "Manticore designed those abs just for me."

"Too bad they gave you the personality of a jackass to go with them," Max replied. She very carefully placed the large adhesive bandage over the latest gunshot wound, mindful of the bruising, especially when she could see him tense his muscles while she pressed the edges down.

"You still good?" she asked when she saw how tightly his jaw was clenched.

"Still hoping for that week in Tahiti," he answered. "We'll lay on the beach. We'll get some sun…"

Max noticed that he didn't even bother to ask if she was going to come along this time. He just assumed they would be sticking together and in light of what Logan said, Max could feel herself looking at Alec's statement differently, looking at _Alec_ differently. She could simultaneously feel a faint blush beginning to creep up her neck onto her cheeks.

When Max didn't say anything, Alec pursed his lips, a chagrinned expression on his face. "Look. Just… clean up, Max. You're a mess. I still have a few things here from when I was crashing with Josh. I'll get you a shirt. It'll be a little big, but at least it'll be blood free. I've got some sweatpants, too. They'll work while I try to wash out your jeans."

"I… thanks." She really didn't know what else to say than that. Alec wasn't supposed to be so obliging. Or maybe he always was and she'd just never noticed? She could kick Logan for telling her to pay better attention to Alec.

"Get in the shower and I'll help you take your shirt off."

He said it so matter-of-factly that for a second it didn't register. When it finally did, she turned on him. "I beg your pardon?"

Alec's old smirk made a reappearance. "You haven't looked at yourself, have you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"A lot of that blood on me was yours and, trust me, passing out and letting it dry to my skin wasn't fun to undo. Your shirt has to be stuck to you like glue."

Max looked down at herself and quickly realized he was right. Her shirt was stuck tight in several places, and practically plastered down on the side where she'd been shot in the arm. That didn't change the fact that she took back every nice thing she'd ever said about him and now she was going to kill him.

"You…"

Alec shook his head. "Don't make it a big deal, Max. You don't make it one, and it won't be." He stepped past her and turned the shower on as if helping her get undressed was the most natural thing in the world. "Kick your shoes off and get in. Wet your clothes down and it'll make it easier."

Max bit her lower lip knowing that if she said anything, this situation would only get more awkward and probably end up with one of them storming out in a temper, probably her, and she definitely needed to get the bloodstained clothes off. Gritting her teeth, she toed off her shoes and stepped around Alec directly into the shower.

To say the water was bracing would be an understatement. "Sorry," Alec said. "I think the little water heater I found before must've given out." He turned her under the stream of water until she had to look like a miserable, sopping wet cat. Max yelped when she felt his hand beneath her shirt, but he just laughed. "Don't worry, Max. I know I'm not getting anywhere. Raise your arm for me."

Max did as he asked, trying to ignore him as he worked on the worst section where the entire side of her shirt was matted with her blood. Her jeans were soaked through, too, and it was a wonder she hadn't bled out. Even now as he worked, she was beginning to feel dizzy again, nothing she couldn't deal with, but she was definitely running low.

Alec's hands were quick and surprisingly… respectful, his touch almost clinical, detached. She would have expected him to try something already, but he continued his methodical pace, slowing as he got closer and closer to her actual wound.

He was standing very close, too close, close enough that she could feel the warmth radiating from his body, a marked contrast to the freezing water. His fingers were like brands against her cold skin, marking her, and she remembered Logan telling her about Alec's territorial behavior.

"I need to take your shirt off, ok? Good arm first." He said it as if he expected her to hit him for it and maybe she would have normally, but the situation was so bizarre that she just nodded and raised her other arm so he could take the shirt off that one and then over her head, although he carefully kept it on her injured arm.

Max had a fleeting thought that she was wearing one of her oldest, least feminine sport type bras. It wasn't exactly what you wanted a guy to see you in, even Alec, although a traitorous part of her wondered what Alec thought. She quickly smothered the idea, though. She couldn't care less what he was thinking. Really.

Alec turned her so that the water was directly on her injured arm and made sure it was thoroughly soaked before he began working on it, sliding his fingers slowly beneath the fabric. Max shivered involuntarily at the touch. "Sorry," he murmured. "Going as fast as I can."

There was no way she was telling him it had nothing to do with the water. That would make her a terrible person. So what if Logan had gone and put dumb ideas in her head? So what if she hadn't had a man anywhere near her in… ever. So what if she had a guy standing right next to her being all… helpful, and touchy, and decent for once, and… not completely ugly.

It was the blood loss. It had to be. Her body was working on autopilot. Or it was oxygen deprived and acting crazy. Logan was practically in the next room. Sure, they'd said their piece, but still…

Alec finally pulled the last of her shirt free and dragged it down the rest of her arm before tossing it out of the shower toward the sink. "How's your arm?" Without waiting for her answer he raised her arm to look at the wound which already appeared to be on its way to healing. "Not bad," he offered.

Finally, he looked her in the face. "You think you can take care of the rest by yourself?"

She nodded, forcing herself to keep her place in the small shower. He was still too close, way too close and she shouldn't be noticing that.

"Ok." He waited a second, a worried frown on his face. "You sure? You lost a lot of blood. You're white as a sheet right now." He brought a hand up and placed it on the side of her face. "Max, are you even hearing me? Cause if you're gonna pass out, I need to know."

Her entire being was centered on the hand on her face, his warm palm against her cheek, his thumb brushing absentmindedly back and forth over her skin. "I'm… I'm good." She was, she determined. She was going to be good and she definitely wasn't going to lean into his touch no matter how tempting it seemed.

"You sure?" he asked earnestly.

"Yeah," she answered, trying to put more strength behind it.

There was a pause while Alec studied her face, his thumb once again brushing back and forth against her cheek and she could actually see the moment when it dawned on him what was happening. He didn't smirk or laugh as she might have expected, nor did he try anything else. He simply stood there, staring at her, as if studying something new that had to be handled carefully.

Alec leaned forward just slightly and Max's lips parted of their own volition. Alec saw it and paused, once again studying her. Slowly, he backed up and withdrew his hand from her face, although he kept his eyes on her. It didn't help her that his t-shirt was damp now from standing by her with the shower running.

"Ok, I'm gonna let you finish up." He clapped his hands together. "If you start to feel faint, just… drop something or yell if you can, or throw something. I'll hear it and come running." He grabbed up their wet things and headed for the door. "Throw your jeans in the sink. I'll get them when I bring your change of clothes."

"Thanks," she said again automatically, feeling all kinds of awkward.

Alec smiled, a real one. "No problem." He widened his eyes comically, mischief plain to see. "I'm gonna go tell Logan I almost kissed you and see what he says. It should be great."

"Alec!"

Alec just laughed and shook his head. He reached behind him and opened the door, then backed out, still holding the sopping clothes and laughing.

* * *

When Max emerged from the bathroom, Alec was no longer amused. He and Logan were standing side by side watching the TV and looking stone-faced.

"What is it?"

Both men turned at the sound of her voice. Alec waved for her to come closer while Logan backed away. She tried not to let it show that she was hurt and walked to Alec's side opposite Logan. Max startled when Alec put his arm around her and drew her closer, but he didn't even seem to notice. All of his focus was on the TV. Max looked for herself and understood why. Alec was instinctively looking for a little comfort.

There were bodies everywhere. It looked like the death squad had learned from their first mistake. They hadn't tried to herd the Transgenics together or say anything to them. It looked like they'd gone in firing and hadn't stopped until they'd run out of bullets or targets, one or the other.

Max looked at the faces and realized she knew some of them. They weren't friends or anything like that, but still… she knew them enough to nod in passing and now they were dead. Alec's arm tightened around her waist and she thought it was probably worse for him. He would have known them better, known them at Manticore, talked to them since the fall.

Max didn't know what to feel as the news camera panned across the devastating scene. She felt numb. It was like too many scenes they'd both witnessed before. Too many times, Alec probably more than her, they'd seen their fellow Transgenics taken out simply because they were no longer wanted or useful. Max was both heartbroken and somehow separate from what she was seeing. She didn't know how to react anymore to so much death. Biggs. Cece. The nine who died in the attack. Nick. Bear. So many innocent brothers and sisters on top of countless children who'd died because Manticore had deemed them defective. Now she saw that Ordinaries weren't much different. They'd sent assassins to kill them because they were defective humans. Max didn't know whether to cry or scream or… she just didn't know anymore.

Alec looked away from the TV as if he couldn't bear to watch it any longer. Instead, he pulled his cell phone from his pocket and began to dial.

"What are you doing?" Max demanded. "I thought everybody shut their phones off."

"In an emergency, someone will turn their phone on for a few minutes at set intervals. I think this qualifies," he replied flatly.

Max immediately saw red. "You're just telling me this now?"

"I've had a little problem with both of us being conscious at the same time," he shot back angrily, "so stow the lecture, Max."

"How do you know who to call?" she asked, only slightly mollified.

"I don't." His eyes glanced toward the TV, the barest moment of pain visible before he shut it away. "Although I can rule a couple of them out now." He looked back down at his phone. "I'll just have to call the numbers I know and hope." He began to walk into the front room to get away from the noise of the TV while he dialed. Alec stopped, however, for a moment and looked between Max and Logan. "Max, you want me to keep him away from you or you want me to leave you alone with him? I forget what your last order was." His eyes dropped to her lips and Max looked toward Logan guiltily to find him just as pointedly not looking at her.

Max glared at Alec. "Just shut up and dial."

He must've seen the look she'd given Logan, because he frowned. "Don't blame me for your wishy-washy decision making." He held the phone up to his ear for a second, apparently got no answer, and immediately began dialing again. "You're lucky you're good looking or one of us would have killed you by now just out of sheer frustration."

"Hey!" Logan finally chimed in, while Max could feel her cheeks turning red, completely and absolutely in anger and for no other reason, definitely not because he'd called her good looking.

"Whatever," Max said, lame a response as it was.

Alec gave up on another call and tried again. He straightened suddenly and Max knew someone had answered.

"Hello?"

"_Who is this_?"

"It's Alec. Who have I got? You have Zeke's phone."

"_Ming. Zeke's dead_," was the terse response. Max remembered something about Ming taking his name from a comic book. The guy had no sense of humor, even less than average for a Transgenic. He was a hardcore jerk and sadly a lot of the hardcore military types responded to him instinctively.

"Our group got hit by the goon squad. We lost several people. Everyone else has gone to ground. You guys?"

"_Half our group is dead. I ordered the others to go to ground. Only my unit is left_," Ming answered. "_We'll go too once we're done_."

Max so did not like the sound of that. Alec must not have either. "Done?" he asked.

"_They're going to pay. If you want to be a part of that, it can be arranged. If not, you should leave town before it happens_."

"How are you going to make them pay?" Alec asked carefully.

"_The mayor is former military. He contacted an old military buddy and they sent their black-ops team_."

"How do you know?"

"_I also have military contacts from former missions_."

"Handy."

"_The hit squad will be looking for us. We'll move fast, hit the mayor and go_."

"That's it? You'll just take out the mayor and leave?"

"_I will hunt the black ops team personally, and the man who gave the orders, but that can be done later. We hit the mayor who sent them after us and we go. This town is too hostile to remain in. Now stop trying to pump me for information_." Ming paused as if in thought. "_Max is probably with you, since you two seem incapable of leaving the other_."

Max's eyes met Alec's, hers in surprise, Alec's not so much. Had others noticed so easily what she'd just figured out in the most awkward way possible?

"Yeah, we're the only ones left," Alec admitted.

Ming made a low growling noise. "_Fine. I assume, thanks to her bleeding heart, you won't be in. I'm only telling you this so you will know to leave. They will lock down the entire city_."

"When?"

"_Soon. I know better than to tell Max anything. The '09er will just want to save them_." He growled again. "_Idiotic sense of priorities_."

"Everyone else is already gone?"

"_Scattered right after the attack. Joshua said he got separated from your group. He and the people with him found us though. He asked me to say goodbye to Max if I made contact. The transhumans took the first hits from the black ops team, but a few made it. They left together_."

"At least he made it." Alec sighed in relief and ran a hand over his face wearily. "Fine. We'll get out of town ASAP."

"_Good_," Ming said and hung up.

Alec put his phone away, although he looked like he wanted to throw it. "I had better luck than this at Manticore." He took a deep breath, shook his head and then huffed out a half-hearted laugh.

"What?" Max asked.

"You're going to make me save the mayor." Alec looked up at her and just shook his head again. "And you're going to get us both killed."

* * *

_More soon…_


	8. Chapter 8

_Whoo… y'all are hard on Max! And she hasn't even said anything yet…_

Chapter Eight

* * *

Alec closed his eyes and tried to keep from showing how tired, annoyed, angry and frustrated he was. Saving the mayor was so far down on his list of self-preservation priorities it wasn't even funny. The jerk had actually called in old favors to have them put down like dogs and Alec just knew that Max was going to make him go in there, guns blazing, to save the murderous bastard just because… well, it was just the sort of thing she dragged him into. Sure, he let it happen because he had a problem with letting her lead him around by the nose, but still… he really liked being alive and free and not worrying about politicians who wanted him dead.

Alec thought about arguing, but he already knew what she was going to say, so why waste energy trying to talk her out of it. She'd probably say that it would look bad if Transgenics took out a public official. Honestly, Alec figured Ming and his team could get in and out without anyone the wiser. The mayor's people would find the him dead several hours later and have no clue who did it. After all, that was what Manticore had trained them to do. Still, it would be a PR nightmare since everyone would assume they'd taken him out.

Either that or she'd say that there would be collateral damage and they had to help any innocent people who might get hurt while Ming was trying to get to the mayor. Truth be told, though, Max would probably want the mayor saved no matter what. After all, she'd stopped Joshua from killing White and Alec didn't get that either. If anyone deserved to go out messy, it was White. Alec would have let Joshua break him in half and then applauded. Joshua wasn't exactly like them, but when the guy that killed your girlfriend came to kill you too, it was on Alec's "Okay" list to put them down fast and hard.

"Alec," Max gave him her _I'm serious_ look, "we-"

Alec held up a hand to stop her. "Don't bother. I know what you're going to say."

"Yeah, I don't think you do."

"I think you want to go in there and save the guy who wants us dead and-"

"Alec, shut up for a second." Her voice didn't hold the normal rancor he expected when she told him to shut up, so he did as she asked. She was frowning and clearly troubled.

"What, Max?"

"I…" Max looked toward Logan as if she were embarrassed or maybe felt guilty about what she was going to say. "I… don't know what to do."

"Well, there's a first." Alec had been working up a full head of steam, assuming what she would say, but he calmed a bit at her discomfort, as well as her uncertainty.

Max scowled at him. "You think I don't know what he's done?" she demanded. Max pointed toward the TV that was still showing video of the slaughter. "You think I'm such an _Ordinary_ that I'll just blindly risk our lives when so many of us are already dead? You think I don't know it's just you and me now?"

Alec cleared his throat uncertainly, chancing a quick glance at Logan who wasn't looking happy. Whether it was because Max didn't seem to be gung ho about stopping an assassination or because she's just verbally put them together, Alec didn't know. "The thought crossed my mind."

Max shook her head. "He broke us, Alec. He probably ordered the sector police to go into Terminal City and clean us out. We're all in the wind now, the few of us who aren't dead. We'll probably never see each other again. I… I want to go in there and rip his head off with my bare hands."

"Wow. Bloodthirsty," Alec said. "I like it." He paused, watching her carefully. "I think I hear a but in there somewhere though."

"What you said before… when we were at the school…" Max bit her lower lip as she thought about what she was going to say next. "You're not the only one who's angry, Alec, or who has mixed feelings."

"But?"

"But this isn't about the mayor."

"And yet he's the one we're going to go after."

Max gave him a look that told him he was being purposely difficult. "Tell me this. Who has the sympathy right now? What are the news people saying?"

"They're demanding answers mostly. They're calling it a massacre. They want to know why they weren't just locked up."

"Right. So we still might be bad guys, they're not sure, but butchering us was a step too far. Now what will they say if one of us kills the mayor, a popular politician, who they don't know anything about, not his involvement, not anything." Max stepped closer to him. "Alec, I don't want to be in hiding the rest of my life. One of these days, I want to be able to walk around free. I want to see Joshua again. I want to be able to see everybody again."

"Fat chance of that if we get killed trying to stop Ming," Alec replied grumpily.

Max cocked her head to one side. "Aren't you the one always telling me how good you are? Manticore's finest and all that?"

Alec sighed heavily. "I always knew my magnificence would catch up to me one day."

"And really… I don't want to save the mayor."

"Then why are we even thinking about this?"

"Because I actually listened when you were talking earlier." Max shot him another you're-being-dense look. "I know that us having some sort of normal future is a pipe dream, so really, this is all pretty useless, everything except Ming and his team."

"You want to save Ming?"

"We have to stop him before he gets himself killed and gets his whole team killed." Max's expression was serious, but turning toward pleading. "There are so _few_ of us left now, Alec, and Ming's about to go on a suicide run."

Alec rubbed at his weary eyes. He was starting to think he was too worn-out to make any decent decisions because he was going to give in and help Max. He looked upward as if for assistance. "Yeah, ok."

"Does that mean you'll do it?" she asked.

Alec ran a hand through his hair. He was so tired, beyond tired really, and his body couldn't take much more. He didn't know what state Ming was in, but it had to be better than them. He seriously doubted Ming was going to appreciate their _help_ and, for once, Alec was genuinely uncertain if they could win. That didn't really matter though, so he nodded. "I think we're going to get killed, but I'll help. You're going to owe me so big for this."

"I'll have Josh make you macaroni and cocktail weenies if we make it." She gave him half-smile, half frown. "If we can find him."

"I must be insane," Alec muttered to himself.

"So," Max said, all business, "how do you think we can do this?"

"We'll have to get the mayor out of the way, or at least give his security a head's up."

"But then Ming will know and he'll figure out a way around it," Max observed.

"You think Ming doesn't know we're going to be there?" Alec asked incredulously.

"You just told him we're leaving town."

Alec's rolled his eyes. "You think he actually believed that? Max, it's you we're talking about. He knew I was lying through my teeth, and so was he, but we both had to play it like we weren't."

"Why?"

Alec raised one eyebrow. "Because we're trained liars and that's just what we do?" When Max just glared at him, he said, "It's an Op, Max. You don't tell the other side what you're doing even if the other guy already knows."

"Then what _do_ we do?"

Alec pointed toward the door. "Come on. Let's go."

"Where?"

"The mayor's office. Ming is probably already on the way and we have to get there first if we want to keep this from going south." Alec looked toward Logan. "Can you get me a number for his office?"

"The mayor?"

"Anyone in his office. I don't care who." The mayor had actually just made a televised speech from his office in City Hall saying his people were looking into the massacre, so Alec assumed he was still there.

Logan nodded and sat down at his computer and began typing. In only a few seconds, he was writing a number on a scrap of paper and handing it over.

"Thanks. Come on, Max. I'll call on the way."

Alec turned when Max didn't immediately follow and saw she was looking at Logan. The look on her face was sort of lost, almost paralyzed and he realized that this might be the last time she saw him. If they had to go to ground, it would mean leaving, leaving the city at the very least, maybe the country. She might see him again eventually, but for the foreseeable future this could be it.

"Max, you want a minute?" he asked, although what he really wanted to do was smack her on the head. Still, if it had been Rachel he would have wanted a minute no matter what disaster was pending.

"I…" He could see it on her face she wanted to say yes. "No. I…" She finally turned toward him. "We should go."

"Sure?"

"Yeah." She turned back to Logan for just a second. "Bye." She could barely make eye contact. "Thanks… for everything."

"Bye, Max."

Alec thought Logan looked like he wanted to cry, but was too much of a guy to let it happen. He had to respect that. They'd made their decision, but when it came down to it, there was no good way for this to happen. There were no good goodbyes at times like these. There was just pain and sadness, maybe bitterness, and a swift kick in the pants on the way out the door.

Alec led the way outside, stopping in the alley to make sure the coast was clear. He glanced at Max and saw that she was looking very serious, more so even than normal.

"You ok?"

"Dunno." She shrugged. "Maybe."

Alec put a hand on her shoulder and for once she didn't push him away. "I'm sorry. If I didn't say that before, I should have." Max's lips tightened in a thin line and she nodded in acceptance. "Now come on. We have to hurry." Alec grabbed her hand and pulled her after him. When she followed he let go and grabbed his phone to dial the number Logan had given him.

"_Mayor's Office. May I help you_?" It was a woman's voice. She sounded like a no nonsense sort, maybe middle aged by the sound of her.

"Who am I speaking to?"

"_This is the mayor's executive assistant_," she said, her tone changing to annoyance. "_Who is this_?"

"This is a warning," Alec said, putting on his I'm-a-big-dog voice. "The mayor is going to die if he is not moved to a safe place in the next few minutes."

"_Who _is_ this_?" she demanded again. "_How did you get this number_?"

"This is someone who knows what he's talking about and who's trying to stop an assassination. They're coming and the mayor is going to be dead if your people don't move him now. Do you understand?"

"_If this is some sort of joke_-"

"Does this sound funny?" Alec snapped. "Just tell his security to get him out. Wherever he is, he needs to be gone in the next few minutes or he's dead."

"_We don't respond to threats_."

"This is not a threat. This is a warning _about_ a threat. Take my advice or don't. That's up to you. The mayor needs protection and this is as good as I can do."

"_Look_-"

"Just do it, lady. He doesn't want to die, and I don't want to have to rescue him."

"_Are you_," she hesitated, suddenly unsure, "_one of _them?"

Alec rolled his eyes. They really didn't have time for this. Ming could already be there. "Why are we still talking? Do what I'm telling you," he ordered and hung up. He shook his head. "Ordinaries. Asking all the wrong questions."

"She's not exactly used to this sort of thing, you know," Max observed.

"Well, we should give out lessons in questions to ask when given warnings about assassinations. Rule number one, always ask who the assassin is first, not who the guy is giving the warning. That can be question two."

"Cute."

Alec grinned. "I've always thought so." He walked to the closest car and had the lock picked and the old junker hotwired in only a few seconds. He opened the passenger door for Max and had the car in gear and moving before her door was even closed.

"You really think stealing a car is a good idea?"

"Let's see… Our motorcycles probably got blown up, we need to get to City Hall as soon as possible and we need something that we can use to barrel through a road block or get out of town fast if we need to. I say this piece of crap qualifies." He raised an eyebrow. "Of course, if you have a better idea, I'm all ears."

Max's hands tightened into fists, but she finally nodded. "Just try to avoid the checkpoints or we'll spend all our time running from the sector police."

"What are they gonna do?" Alec jeered. "Try to kill us? Pretty sure that's going to be in the cards today no matter what we do."

"Whatever," was her every informative response.

They drove for several minutes in complete silence. Alec was pretty familiar with the best ways around town to avoid any problems. There were always places to get through if you were looking. Since Seattle was the craphole it was, there were a lot more people than just Transgenics who needed to get around the sector police. Still, the closer they got to the city center, the more security there was.

The silence continued to stretch until Alec could barely stand it. In all honesty, he wasn't really sure how to act around Max at the moment. He knew she was hurting because of Logan. He also knew that she'd almost kissed him when he was helping her in the shower. Whether that was an I'm-an-emotional-post-break-up-mess thing, or an I've-finally-realized-you're-too-magnificent-to-ignore thing he wasn't sure. Either way, it made Alec wonder just how he was going to play this.

"Turn here and stop." Max pointed toward an alley.

"Why?" he asked, although he followed her directions.

"There's a sewer entrance we can use to get past the blockades. We're not going to get much farther."

Alec sighed, but nodded. He shut the car off and followed Max who was already heading down the alley. Since the Jam Pony incident, the security around the politicians and anyone who could afford it had probably been increased exponentially. Trying to get in with no one seeing them pretty much ensured they used the sewer system, so Alec had been prepared.

Alec followed Max down into the sewers trying to ignore the fact that his nose went into immediate rebellion. He wasn't too fond of the muck either. Clean people didn't get noticed. People who looked like they'd been thrown down a garbage chute did. Right now they really, really needed to look like everybody else.

"Do we have a plan?" Alec asked quietly.

"Hopefully, they moved the mayor and we don't have to do anything at all other than tell Ming to skip town," Max replied. "If not, we look around and do whatever seems like a good idea."

"Ah. The old seat of our pants plan. Those always turn out well."

"Like you said," she snapped back, "you have a better idea, I'm all ears."

"Well…" Alec smiled to himself, suddenly deciding how he was going to play it with Max. She was going to hit him, but he might as well go for broke. "I'm kinda fond of the seat of your pants, so… I'm all for it."

Max stopped dead in her tracks. She turned and before Alec had a chance to react she had him pressed against the bricks her forearm across his throat. "You say something like that again, I'll rearrange your face. We clear?"

Oh, he was clear, all right. The look in her eyes… it wasn't angry. It was closer to terrified.

It took less than a second to reverse their positions. He pressed his palms flat to the wall on either side of her head, using his arms and his body to block her in.

"Let's get something straight, Max," he said lowly. "You almost kissed me. For once, you almost did something that felt good without worrying about all the other crap that's going on. For once, you noticed _me_, something I've been waiting on for longer than you wanna know about."

Max's mouth opened in surprise and definite alarm, although her eyes trailed back to his lips.

"I've been playing it cool because you and Logan had your thing going. You don't have that now. I'll give you time, because I get it. I do. But just so you know? I'm not Logan. I'm not gonna wait for years because you can't make up your mind. If I see something I want, I don't dance around it. Life's too short. So this is fair warning, Max. I'll push. I'll make demands. Now that I know you're not immune to my charms," he gave her a grin, "I will follow you, chase you… I will make sure you don't have a second to forget that I'm here."

"Alec-" she whispered, most likely appalled, definitely shell-shocked.

He smiled. "Exactly. Alec." He figured he had about a minute before the shock wore off and turned into fury. "So get ready, Max. If we live through this, I'm not gonna keep my distance anymore." With his hands brushing her hair on either side of her head and his body pressing her into the wall, there was no way she could ignore what he was telling her either. Max was great at denial, but even she couldn't fail to understand now.

Finally, her eyes narrowed. "You through?"

"Yup."

"Good." She pressed her hands to his chest and shoved him back several feet, her teeth clenched, clearly about to reach boiling point. "We don't have time for this." She pointed at him. "Now shut up and let's go. We're almost there."

"Just so you know we're not done and I'm not gonna ignore what happened."

"I said _shut up_."

Max marched past him toward a ladder leading up to street level. Her muscles were whipcord tight as she pulled herself up. She listened for half a second and then shoved open the sewer grate. She looked around and then hoisted herself up through the opening. Alec followed more slowly, a definite hitch in his movement thanks to his injuries which simply refused to leave.

By the time Alec was back above ground, Max was already down the alley and peeking around the corner. Alec followed, amused when Max jumped as he put a hand on her hip and leaned around her to look toward City Hall.

His amusement quickly faded, however. They were just in time to see Ming disappear inside a side door leading into the building. Alec spotted another of his people on the roof, no doubt, using an access door there to work his way down into the offices below. They were too late.

* * *

_More soon…_


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

* * *

"Your call, Max," Alec said solemnly.

"What?" Max turned toward him, her brow wrinkled in confusion.

"Do we go after Ming or leave them to the security in there? Hopefully, the mayor's gone. Ming won't get his target."

Her face cleared in understanding. "Ming will either kill his way to the mayor's office, or they'll get themselves killed. I don't want either, so let's go."

Alec closed his eyes briefly in resignation. Until that moment, he'd had the last vague hope that they weren't going to have to go into City Hall or have to talk down their own people. As usual, his hopes, no matter how big or small, went up in smoke.

By the time Alec opened his eyes again, Max was already moving. As surreptitiously as possible, they hurried across the open areas, moving from shelter to shelter until they reached the door they'd seen Ming disappear through.

Once inside, they found they were in a poorly lit corridor that was most likely used for maintenance. Alec could hear the heavy whirring and groaning of the heating system and smell the musty scent of the furnaces.

Max carefully worked her way down the corridor and Alec followed. Without warning, an arm reached out. In a blur, Max was whipped around and locked in place, a knife digging into her neck. At first, Alec only saw the blood, but he quickly focused his attention on the man holding the blade.

"That isn't really necessary, Ming." Alec forced himself to remain calm and steady. Max was desperately holding her head up at an awkward angle trying to keep the knife from slicing further into her skin. Ming's hold on her had her completely immobilized and Alec had memories of training sessions on how to do exactly what Ming was doing. They'd also been given lessons on how to extract themselves from that particular hold, but Max had been gone for years by the time they'd had those training sessions.

"It isn't necessary?" Ming hissed. "Tell me you two aren't here to stop me and I'll let her go."

"We're here to tell you that the mayor's already been moved," he replied evenly. "You're walking into a trap and we all need to get out of here."

Ming's eyes narrowed and the hand holding the knife at Max's neck dug in a little deeper causing her to gasp. "And why exactly was the mayor moved?" Ming demanded.

"Because there are only a handful of us left and you're about to get your whole team killed which is _exactly_ what the mayor wants," Alec replied steadily. "Not to mention, I don't want to be one of those Transgenics who murdered Seattle's mayor. I want to be one of those poor Transgenics who's a victim of circumstance, or one of those poor Transgenics who survived the massacre that's all over the TV right now." He looked him in the eye. "Just _once_, I don't want us to be the bad guys and you're about to make us the bad guys _permanently_. More importantly, though, I want us all to live, and this plan of yours is going to get us killed."

"Who cares what they think?" he spat. "They're going to murder us no matter what." His eyes narrowed dangerously. "I want him dead for what he's done and he's going to die."

"Are you willing to kill one of your own to make that happen?" Alec demanded.

Ming's grip on Max tightened and her eyes widened in panic, pleading with Alec to do something. It took everything he had not to shoot Ming where he stood. Alec might understand where Ming was coming from and even agree, but if he hurt Max one more time, Alec would take him out and just work on the guilty conscience later.

"This is pointless," Alec said angrily. "The mayor isn't here and we need to go. Radio your people to fall back before it's too late."

"Oh, it's already too late."

Max, Alec and Ming all turned at the sound of the voice. The leader of the black ops team was standing only a few feet away with a gun aimed directly at Max. It looked high enough caliber that it would go through Max and hit Ming as well.

His movements a blur they were so fast, Ming pulled the knife from Max's neck, flipped it and threw it at the gunman. The knife buried itself in the man's neck, just above the edge of his body armor, and Alec couldn't manage even an ounce of sympathy. Ming might want the mayor's head, but Alec would be just fine to see this one dead at his feet.

Rather than wait to see if the knife had done the trick, although Alec knew Ming had been aiming to sever his spine, Alec blurred forward and punched the man hard enough to put down an elephant. The gunman crumpled to the ground and didn't move again. Alec kicked the gun out of his hands and hurriedly turned back to Ming and Max.

Unfortunately, he turned back to find Ming with a gun in his hand. He shoved Max toward Alec and then leveled the gun on both of them. Alec almost smiled at the furious look Max turned on Ming. The guy better hope Max never caught him when he was unarmed.

"This isn't over," Ming said through gritted teeth. He used his free hand to hit the transmit button on his radio and ordered the others to withdraw. "You can't watch the mayor 24/7 and it only takes one bullet."

Alec rolled his eyes. "Yeah. I took the same classes you did, Ming. I know the drill."

"Then you should know better than to let an enemy get away," he snapped angrily. He moved toward the fallen gunman and retrieved his knife, absentmindedly wiping the blood off on his pants leg.

"I just want to make sure _we_ get away," Alec replied.

"You two idiots need to stop talking," Max cut in. "The rest of this guy's team must be in the building. We have to _go_."

Now that he focused, Alec could hear the sound of approaching feet. The goon squad definitely went for the pack mentality. Simultaneously, he heard the exterior door they'd used to enter the building being opened.

"Crap, they've got us surrounded." Alec looked around them for the best choice of cover while Max did the same.

"You two do what you want," Ming said. "I'm not running from them again." He turned toward the exterior door and raised his gun.

Alec didn't wait to see the rest, although he heard the shots being fired plain enough. As one, he and Max turned the other way. They had both spotted a door within easy distance. Max led the way and Alec was close behind. The sound of footsteps was close and there were only seconds to spare when Max snapped the lock home.

"They're in there," Alec heard someone say, followed by the distinct jarring of a boot slamming into the door.

"Leave them," another man ordered. "That room's a dead end. One of you stay and shoot them if they come out. Otherwise we'll deal with them later. The rest of you find the other rats before they get back into the sewers."

"Great," Alec sighed. "Just great."

"We're alive, aren't we?" Max replied.

"For now." The problem was that whatever room they were in was pitch black. There were no lights and only the dimmest bit of illumination was coming from under the door. "Find a switch or something," Alec said. "If we're going to die, I'd kind of like to see it coming."

"What do you think I'm doing? Working on a dance routine?" She banged into something and muttered several unladylike words under her breath.

Despite the swearing, Alec could hear the slight amusement in her voice and was puzzled. "Why are you happy about this?" he demanded. "We're stuck in here and probably gonna die."

"But the mayor's ok and Ming's crew will probably get out. Maybe not Ming," she didn't sound too broken up about that, "but his crew will."

Alec rolled his eyes even though she couldn't see it. "Yeah. Super. They'll get out, change their plan and kill the mayor tomorrow or get themselves killed tomorrow. I am _so_ happy."

"And I thought I was the bitchy one." He heard her sigh. "First things first. Find a switch. We need another way out of this room."

For several minutes, they both fumbled around in the dark until finally Alec heard Max make a small sound of triumph, followed by light coming from a bare bulb where she'd found a string hanging down in the middle of the room.

They both took a quick look around and saw that the gunman had been correct. They were in a large walk-in supply closet. It had shelves lining the walls which were piled with old bits of office equipment as well as boxes of every kind of office supply imaginable. It had everything needed except for a second exit.

As soon as Alec came to that conclusion, he did the only thing he could. He promptly half-fell, half-sat on the floor with his back to the shelves. His ribs and shoulder hurt so badly, he wanted to sit there for a week and not move.

"You ok?" Max asked.

"Why wouldn't I be ok?" Alec gave her an incredulous expression. "I've had the stuffing beat out of me, I've been shot, I've been dragged here against my better judgment and now we're about to be shot like fish in a barrel. It's like Christmas!"

Max didn't reply. Instead she huffed out an annoyed breath and walked over to him. She sat down by him and Alec couldn't help noticing how loose-limbed she was. He wondered if the blood loss was giving her problems. Knowing Max, it probably was and she was refusing to give in to any weakness.

"You know we're gonna have to fight our way out of here in a minute or two, right?"

"Yeah," she answered simply. "Just give me a sec."

For Max that was practically an admission of being nearly at death's door and he felt bad for whining about his own issues. "Ok."

They fell into silence and unlike earlier it wasn't completely awkward. He didn't know why. After what he'd said to Max in the sewer, it really should be, but for some reason, the knowledge that he'd finally just laid it all out there for her was somehow… freeing. Granted, he still wasn't sure how Max was taking it, but for his part, that was the only thing that had gone well that day.

Alec gave Max a sidelong glance and immediately forgot about what he was going to say. The wound on Max's neck was oozing blood. He pulled his t-shirt out and ripped a strip off the bottom. Without giving her a chance to protest, he turned and pressed the bit of cloth to her neck, using his other hand against the opposite side of her neck to steady himself.

"Hey! I can do it myself," she protested, but Alec swatted her hand away.

"You can't see it. Just let me." The idea of being able to touch her without getting punched for it was a pleasant side effect. He could feel Max's pulse under his fingers and the knowledge that it sped up at his touch was also a nice thing to find. She might still have Logan on the brain, but that didn't mean she wasn't affected. "You sure you're ok?" he asked.

"Fine," she said through gritted teeth, unable to look him in the eye.

Alec sniffed. "I may have to rethink my stance on not killing Ming."

Max shrugged it off. "It's not that bad."

"Maybe I don't like seeing you hurt," Alec admitted, making Max give him a sidelong glance of surprise. "Maybe it pisses me off."

Her lips twitched in a half-smile. "Well, I'm not exactly thrilled about it."

Alec pulled the bit of cloth away and saw that the cut had stopped bleeding. He hadn't been kidding about killing Ming. The wound was deep. If she'd been a normal human she might have been in real trouble, and it wasn't like she had any extra blood right then to spare.

Alec used the cloth to try to clean her neck up a bit. Max held her breath while he did so, still not looking at him, but clearly as aware as he was of how close they were, and that Alec was touching her far more than was normally allowed.

Once he'd done the best he could, Alec tossed the cloth aside and reluctantly pulled his other hand away, letting it slide from her neck a little slower than was necessary. Max noticed it too. She let out a tiny gasp through her parted lips.

"You should be all right," he told her. "Just don't go ripping it open again. I think he was trying to gouge his way through to the other side."

Max nodded, still refusing to look at him. "Hopefully it'll hold long enough for us to get out of here."

"Right. You ready?"

Max pursed her lips. "As I'll ever be."

Alec rose first, groaning at the strain on his overtaxed muscles. He then held out his hand and Max took it, once again letting him know just how much Max was still affected by the blood loss.

"Let's make this quick," Alec said, taking the lead since he was the one who was armed.

Together, they walked to the door and without warning threw it open. Alec was already firing before he crossed the threshold. He put the waiting gunman down without a second thought, then stopped and listened.

"Something's going on upstairs," Max whispered.

Alec heard it too, the sound of fighting, of suppressed gunfire. The radio the black ops guy was wearing crackled to life. It was an earpiece, but he and Max heard it nevertheless.

"_Converge on the third floor. They got past us. Don't let them get to the mayor_!"

* * *

_More soon…_


	10. Chapter 10

_Stupid mayor causing all kinds of problems... Now, on we go!_

Chapter Ten

* * *

"The idiots didn't move the mayor!" Max cried in disbelief.

"Either that or they didn't move him far enough," Alec countered. He should have known the mayor's security people would be too proud or too stupid to believe the threat was more than they could handle.

Max ran toward the stairwell that led up to the proper part of City Hall. Alec didn't really want her in the lead since he was the one who was armed, but telling that to Max was about as useful as telling Max pretty much anything. She was going to do what she wanted anyway.

There were gasps as they burst out onto the central rotunda of the main floor. Max was well known now thanks to the Jam Pony incident and the fact that she was with someone who was carrying a gun wasn't lost on the people either. They immediately started screaming and rushing around like chickens with their heads cut off. Max and Alec ignored them and bolted for the wide staircase that led upwards.

As they reached the second floor landing, they were met with office workers fleeing down the stairs from the third floor. They could hear the sound of fighting and hurried up the final flight of stairs, hoping they weren't too late, either for the mayor or for their fellow Transgenics. They had yet to meet any normal security people and to Alec that didn't bode well.

Once they reached the landing, they stopped briefly to listen. At the same moment, they pinpointed the direction the noises were coming from and headed that way. The floor was honeycombed with offices, resulting in a maze as they worked their way through. In several offices, they found workers hiding behind desks or other bits of furniture and in each case, Max jerked them to their feet and pushed them in the direction of the exit. The pair of security guards weren't so lucky. They found them a few offices apart, unconscious and bleeding. They would live, thankfully, but they wouldn't be any help at the moment.

Finally, they reached what appeared to be the mayor's inner sanctum. There was a set of glass doors that led to an imposing looking desk that probably belonged to the secretary who hadn't done her job well enough, although she seemed to have gotten herself out of the line of fire. Beyond that desk was another oversized wooden door that led into the mayor's office. That door was open and one of the black ops team members was standing in the doorway with his back to them. He had his gun trained on something, although Alec couldn't tell who or what.

"Put the gun down," the man ordered as Max and Alec eased through the glass doors into the secretary's office area.

"You put the gun down or I'll put a bullet in his brain," came a voice from inside the room. Alec immediately recognized Ming's voice and was both annoyed and impressed at the other Transgenic's abilities, not to mention tenacity.

Alec snuck up behind the gunman in the doorway and brought his gun down sharply on the man's neck. He crumpled toward the ground, but Alec grabbed him and swung him to one side so his body wouldn't be blocking the doorway. Alec then edged toward the door, his gun at the ready.

As soon as he could see inside the room, he wanted to turn right around and head the other way. There were three Transgenics on the ground, blood pooled around them. Ming was badly injured, but he was still standing. He had one of the gunmen in the same type of hold he'd used on Max earlier, only instead of a knife, he had a gun pointed at the man's head. There were two more members of the military unit inside, one had his gun trained on Ming, while the other turned at Alec's appearance and aimed at him. The last person in the room was the mayor, a typical suited, hair-wouldn't-move-in-a-stiff-breeze politician who was currently standing in front of his desk trying to make himself as small a target as possible.

As soon as one of the gunmen turned toward Alec, Ming didn't even pause. He took the gun away from his hostage's head and shot the gunman who was aiming at him. The shot brought the second man's attention back toward him, but before the gunman could aim, Ming had already fired again, dropping both of his opponents in less than a second.

Alec thought his heart was going to explode when Max, realizing where the next shot was going to land, took the opportunity to burst into the room and plant herself promptly right in between the mayor and Ming. "Don't you dare," she ordered.

"Me?" Ming's eyes widened in disbelief. "Why are protecting him?" he shouted. "He brought these people here to murder us! More than half of us are in the _morgue_ and you're standing there like he deserves to be saved!"

Alec didn't bother to look at Max. Instead he kept his gun aimed at Ming. If the guy so much as twitched, Alec had every intention of putting a bullet between his eyes. Their task has been to save Ming and his team, but far more important than that, Alec wasn't willing to let _anyone_, Transgenic or otherwise, hurt Max and Ming was already in his bad books for the day.

"You're right. He doesn't deserve to be saved," Max said calmly. The mayor who was currently cowering behind Max made a sound close to a whimper, but Alec's focus was all on Ming and making sure he was ready to shoot if need be.

"The mayor doesn't deserve anything," Max continued, "but that doesn't change the fact that I can't let you hurt him. If one of us kills the mayor, we will never, ever, be anything but the killers they say we are. No one will ever trust us, or help us, or harbor us. Like you said, there are only a few of us left and we need every advantage we can get."

To Alec's way of thinking, that was a lost cause now anyway. Whether the mayor died or not, Ming had made an attempt on his life. It was a done deal that they were going to be ripped to pieces in the press for this. Their only hope had been to stop Ming before it got this far, and now it was just too late.

"You don't get it," Ming said through gritted teeth. "We're already dead. All of us. It's just a matter of time."

"That's not true," Max immediately countered. "We were trained well. We can make it if we don't make it harder on ourselves than we have to. Killing this guy will make it next to impossible. They will hunt us to extinction. Don't _do_ this."

Ming's grip on the last remaining gunman tightened and Alec could tell that he was torn. He wasn't torn about whether or not to kill the mayor. He was obviously still A-ok with that. He was torn about who to kill first. If he shot the gunman, he'd lose his human shield. If he shot Max, Alec would put him down like a dog, and at the moment, the only way to shoot the mayor was to go through Max.

"You're living in some sort of fairy tale," Ming said coldly. "It doesn't matter. None of this does. The only thing left is justice. He's a murderer and no one will hold him to account for what he's done. No one but me."

"We'll make sure he pays," Max said. "Just not like this."

"This is the _only_ way."

"But-"

"He killed my wife!" Ming spat. "He brought these people in and tried to kill us all! My team is _dead_. My friends are _dead_. We're _all_ dead and you want me to what? Leave him alive out of self-preservation?"

Alec weighed his options. In his opinion, they were both being idiots. Ming had got his team killed, while Max, however misguided, was at least trying to save someone. The two were definitely at an impasse which meant Alec was going to have to be the deciding factor.

Alec lowered his aim and put a bullet in the black ops guy's knee. The man became a dead weight and slid out of Ming's surprised hold. Alec's second shot took Ming in the hand and his gun went flying. Ming screamed in pain and frustration, but he wasn't about to be stopped.

Ming pulled the knife he'd used earlier out of the sheath on his belt. In a blur, he ran around Max toward the mayor. Ming was fast, but so was Max. She backhanded him, forcing him back from the mayor. In that second, Alec knew he was out of options if he wanted to keep Max safe, so he did what he had to do. He fired. Ming dropped to the floor and didn't move again.

Alec stared at the body, the beginnings of regret already forming, despite the necessity. So much for their hopes of saving Ming and his crew. Yet another disaster he'd failed to avert. They were all gone. Ming had led them to their deaths and for what? Still, Alec didn't know what he would have done if Max had been killed in the first attacks. Would he have been able to walk away or would he have tracked down the mayor himself? He knew that part of the reindoctrination after Rachel's supposed death had been to keep him from ripping the hearts out of the men who'd set off the car bomb.

"Alec?"

He turned at the sound of Max's voice, surprised to hear the waver in it. Max was standing in front of the mayor, who was leaning back against his desk pale as a ghost and looking like he was going to throw up. Alec couldn't be bothered to worry about him though. Everything he had was focused on Max as she stumbled backward into the mayor and began to list to one side, staring down in disbelief.

Ming's knife was buried to the hilt in her belly.

* * *

_More soon…_


	11. Chapter 11

_Okey dokey. Max is in trouble…_

Chapter Eleven

* * *

Alec lurched forward and caught Max before she fell. He eased her to the floor and knelt beside her. "Max? Max, can you hear me?"

"I got stabbed. I'm not… deaf." Her voice faltered though and her eyes weren't making contact with his properly as he leaned over her. Alec wished he could shoot Ming again.

"Great," Alec said. "Your attitude is intact even though nothing else is."

"I…" Her eyelids started to flutter closed. "I don't feel so good."

"Can't imagine why." He tapped her cheek with enough force to get her attention. "You stay with me, you understand?"

Max made a guttural sound that wasn't exactly what Alec had been hoping for. He looked up at the mayor who was staring down at them in horror still looking like he was going to throw up at any moment.

"Call for an ambulance. Now," Alec ordered.

"What?" His paunchy, pasty face suddenly began to flood with color.

"An ambulance! Call for an ambulance!" Alec knew it wasn't just dangerous, it was suicidal, but Max was in deep trouble and he didn't know what else to do. This was everything he'd been afraid of. They'd failed their mission miserably and now Max wasn't just hurt, she was down.

The mayor looked at him and then at Max and finally at Ming. Then he did what Alec supposed was the only sane response to a failed assassination attempt. He ran.

Alec watched the man hightail it out the door and hung his head in frustration. Maybe it was for the best. Max could be killed in the hospital just as easily as anywhere else, maybe easier. He definitely had to get her out though and fast. Most of the security guards were down thanks to Ming, but Alec had to guess there were more, or that the sector police were on the way. The screaming office workers streaming out of the building would have been a bit of a giveaway that something was wrong.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the gunman he'd shot in the knee eyeing Ming's fallen weapon. "Don't even think about it," Alec snapped, aiming his gun between the man's eyes.

The soldier glared back at him, but stopped edging toward the gun. "You won't make it out of the building. I doubt you'll make it off this floor."

"You're lucky I don't shoot unarmed men anymore," Alec replied evenly. "I've been informed it's not sportsmanlike, not that I really agree."

The man paled slightly, but had the good sense not to say anything else. Keeping one eye on the gunman, Alec scuttled over to Ming and unceremoniously ripped his shirt off. He folded it into a flat bandage type pad as he hurried back to Max's side.

"Sorry, Maxie. We're out of options." Normally, Alec would have left the knife in the wound since the blade was acting as a temporary seal for the damage it had done, but that wasn't an option now. He was going to have to move her and move fast.

With only a second's hesitation, Alec pulled the knife out and Max groaned although he didn't think she was even really awake anymore. He immediately used one hand and the makeshift pad to put pressure on the wound. He pressed down hard enough that Max twisted in pain, but Alec refused to let her move too far. He used his other hand to pull his belt off. Alec kept the shirt over the wound and wrapped his belt around her. He pulled it taut to keep the pressure on and prayed it would hold long enough for him to get her to safety.

With a final warning glance at the gunman not to try anything, Alec picked Max up and headed for the door. He wanted to weep at how badly it hurt. He was reinjuring and aggravating his wounds over and over and the sad thing was he kept doing it because the others were more severely hurt than he was. It seemed to be the recurring theme of the past few days, not to mention the next thing he was about to do, which was run and hide.

* * *

Alec dodged. He weaved. He scampered. He hid. He hurried, scurried, knocked out a few people, and did every possible undignified thing required of him to get out of the building.

The sector police were streaming inside. Their cars were surrounding City Hall, lights flashing. More sector police were standing by near the exits and the cars and every possible way out of the town square surrounding City Hall.

Thankfully, Alec was more than willing to use unorthodox methods that the sector police didn't think of as an exit. Granted, looking nonchalant while carrying a bloody, half-dead woman who'd just recently been on the news wasn't really his best play, but there was no other choice.

The only choice he did have was where to take Max once he got outside the police cordon and even that wasn't really a choice. He couldn't take her to a hospital and he had to get Max to help quickly. They had exactly one place left in the city they could call safe harbor. He didn't know whether Max would kiss him or kill him for taking her back there.

Logan's.

* * *

Alec knelt beside the bed. Max was still deathly pale. A city-wide lockdown had been put in effect after the assassination attempt and it had been impossible to get a doctor to Logan's.

That had been two days ago and Max had yet to wake up. He'd tried to reassure himself by saying Max's body was focused on repairing itself and she'd wake up when the time was right. It didn't help that Logan was still hovering. At the moment, he was standing in the bedroom doorway, leaning against the doorpost. Alec wanted badly to snarl at him and order him to go away, but he couldn't really order the guy out of his own bedroom.

"She looks a little better," Logan said into the quiet. Alec just grunted. He'd given up on talking for the moment. Their people were either gone or scattered to the four corners. They hadn't managed to keep Transgenics from being the bad guys again and they hadn't managed to save Ming or his team members. Max wasn't waking up and Alec just didn't know what to do. He'd already done all he could for her, precious little though it was, and now he felt useless waiting to see if it was enough. His heart felt like it was in a vise, just on the edge of being crushed, waiting along with her.

He could still see Rachel lying in her bed, waiting for death to come and take her. He'd wept for her and the memory of discovering love and kindness for the first time followed by his failure to protect it. Now he was kneeling beside Max, afraid it was happening all over again, but this time the feelings involved were so different. Max knew who he was, after all. She knew what he'd done and still didn't seem to mind having him around.

He liked Max. He liked being around her. He liked talking to her. He liked going out and getting into trouble with her, fighting alongside her, protecting her when it all went wrong. He liked making her crazy and making her smile. Was that love? Just wanting to be with somebody? To be there with them through good and bad? Alec honestly didn't know. He'd never really seen it, never really felt it, except maybe the shadow of what it could have been with Rachel.

Alec was a mess, he knew that, but so was Max. Put them together and the word volatile came to mind, but that was part of the adventure. He had no clue if they could actually make a go of it without killing each other, but it wouldn't matter if Max didn't survive for them to make the attempt.

"You should eat something," Logan tried again.

"I'm good."

"Alec-"

Alec could feel it building low in his belly, a growl that if Logan didn't back off was going to turn into something more. He'd wanted to hit something ever since Max had been hurt and his patience was wearing thinner and thinner the longer she was unconscious.

"Ok…" Logan said evenly. "Got it." He sighed heavily. "I'm going to go keep working on finding information on the mayor to send to the news people. I'll enjoy watching them rip him apart once they know what he did."

Alec didn't bother to respond. The press might ruin the guy, but Alec would prefer a more literal ripping and tearing. He could do it, too. He'd been trained in covert work after all and it certainly wouldn't be the first politician Alec had put down. Ming had been a fool to go at the mayor head on. They'd been better trained than that. He'd had been too crazed though after his wife's death to think clearly and Alec understood that.

One look at Max's still form, however, reminded Alec why the mayor was still breathing. She would never forgive him and Alec could see her reasoning, too, even if it was more goody two shoes than he was trained to be.

"Let me know if you need anything," Logan said. When Alec didn't bother to respond, Logan left the room quietly and Alec finally felt himself relax a bit. Max would probably say he was being a territorial idiot, but so what? He was on watch until she was back on her feet.

Alec took Max's hand and clasped it between both of his. He held it close to his chest, frightened that her skin was still cooler than it should be. He simply had no way of knowing what kind of internal damage had been done, not to mention the blood loss. She'd asked too much of her body and was now paying the price.

The worst part was that it was his fault. He expected Max to make the overly sympathetic, save-everybody kind of choices. It was up to him to make the ugly ones. He hadn't wanted to hurt Ming, but Manticore had taught him to put down threats, no matter what form that threat came in. As soon as he knee-shot the gunman, he should have put Ming down as well. His hesitation had nearly killed Max. It still might if she didn't come around soon.

"I'm sorry, Max," he whispered. "I should have been faster."

He half-expected her to open her eyes and berate him, but as had been the case since he'd brought her back to Logan's, there was no response. He hated seeing her so… lifeless. Max was all carefully controlled fire and balled up hostility. She was like a bright light he couldn't seem to stay away from. To see that extinguished, even temporarily, was more than he could stand.

"Come on, Max," he pleaded. "I need you to wake up and tell me to stop being an idiot. You're supposed to boss me around and I'm supposed to smart off and then we're going to blow this town and never look back. We can't get out of here, though, until you wake up."

For a second, just a second, Alec allowed himself to think what it would be like if Max died. Just that tiny second of doubt was enough to make his heart begin to wither inside him. He hadn't really lived before he'd met her, just survived. What would he do without her? What could he do? His sole skill set was as a thief or killer. She'd never forgive him, but then she wouldn't be around to smack him back into the right path.

"Just stay with me, Max. I need you here," he whispered. He brought her hand up and kissed it gently.

"Did…" Alec started at the sound of Max's voice. "Did I give you… permission… to maul me?"

Alec laughed, although it came out closer to a sob. "Max."

"You… kill… mayor?"

He kissed her hand again. "No."

"Too bad." She smiled weakly. "Probably best, though."

Alec laughed again, too overjoyed for words. The thought of being alone again had been too much. Seattle had emptied of Transgenics and without Max he would've had no one. He doubted he would ever have found the others. Alec really didn't want to be alone anymore, and now that he knew Max was at least interested, he wanted it to be Max.

"Gonna sleep now," Max whispered.

"Rest," Alec whispered in reply. He leaned forward and kissed her lips gently. Max eyes fluttered closed, but her mouth curved into a tiny smile. "Alec?"

"Sleep, Maxie. I'll be here when you wake up."

* * *

_Alrighty… we're in the home stretch… One more to go._


	12. Chapter 12

_And here you have it all fixed up…_

Chapter Twelve

* * *

Max woke slowly. She opened her eyes and took her time focusing on the ceiling, allowing for the distinct possibility of falling right back asleep which is what had happened every other time she'd awakened. She knew she was back at Logan's. She knew Alec had been at her side every single time, always talking, always frightened, always urging her to stay with him.

He'd also kissed her.

When Max determined she wasn't going to fall back asleep, she gave more effort to remembering how she'd gotten to this point. Her mind wandered through the past several days. She remembered asking everyone to stay and then the police blowing Terminal City to pieces. She remembered the abandoned warehouse, then the school, the situation devolving from completely disastrous to completely beyond repair. She remembered ending up at Logan's where they'd brought their non-relationship to its inevitable end. She remembered the massacre of so many Transgenics and her one last hope of maybe, just maybe, saving Ming and his people. It had been a stupid hope, in retrospect, a hope she'd clung to after so much loss, only to have it, too, smashed to pieces like all of her other hopes and dreams.

Max turned her head toward the other side of the bed. Alec was stretched out beside her, fast asleep. He was on his side, facing her, with one hand curled around her bicep. She moved her arm and Alec's fingers tightened, although he didn't seem to actually wake. It reminded her of what Logan had told her. Alec was watching over her, not to mention being territorial. Idiot, she thought fondly.

"It finally caught up to him."

Max turned quickly toward the voice and found Logan sitting in a chair a few feet away. He looked tired and… sad. "What did?"

"He hadn't slept since you got hurt," Logan said. "Even a Transgenic has to rest eventually."

"How long have I been out?"

"Four days." Logan sighed and sat forward in his chair. "You woke up a few times, but I doubt you remember it. You weren't really coherent."

"He ok?" She didn't know if he'd been hurt escaping from City Hall. She wanted to check him herself for injuries, but it would require forcing him to let her arm go and she guessed that would probably wake him.

"I don't know," Logan answered wearily. "He hasn't really talked to me and he wouldn't really let me near you or him."

"Territorial again?"

"That's putting it mildly."

Max was getting a crick in her neck from trying to talk to Logan while she was lying down. She scooted up on the bed, feeling a sharp twinge low in her belly at the movement. It made her grit her teeth, but it still felt better than lying down. Her body told her she'd been lying in the same position for far too long.

The movement did, however, pull her away from Alec. He immediately began to stir and Max quickly took his hand in hers. With the contact reestablished, he seemed to settle again and Max sighed in relief. He looked badly in need of rest. There were dark circles under his eyes and Max was well aware of what poor shape he'd been in before she asked him to go to City Hall.

Max heard a sound from the other side of the room and looked up to find Logan watching her, once again with that sad look on his face. She felt herself flush in embarrassment and glanced back down where she was holding Alec's hand, but she couldn't bring herself to let him go. She honestly had no idea what she and Alec were to each other at this point, if they were anything at all, but if Alec needed her there so he could rest, then that was what she was going to do.

Logan cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I found evidence that the mayor called in the team and arranged for the deaths of the Transgenics. It hasn't been enough to cancel the citywide lockdown, and there's some mixed sentiment, of course, but it's starting to swing against him. They don't seem to care about the transhumans, but there were too many children in the massacre."

"Too many _human_ looking children," Max said, unable to keep the bitterness from her voice.

Logan nodded and looked down. "Right."

Max pursed her lips, once again feeling guilty, this time for letting her anger spill over onto Logan. He'd been nothing but generous and helpful to her and the others. "Thanks," she finally said. "The mayor deserves whatever they do to him."

"And more," Logan added.

Max nodded in agreement, then stopped, unease creeping up at what else she knew needed to be said. "I'm… I'm sorry we had to come back here. It can't have made any of this easier."

Logan smiled kindly. "You were dying, Max. Just because we can't be together, it doesn't mean you aren't welcome here, or that you have to go someplace else when there's trouble."

"Still…"

"We're friends, Max," Logan said seriously. "I hope we'll always have that."

Max's lips quirked up on one side. "The potentially lethal, best at a distance, but always helpful kind of friends."

"Exactly."

Alec shifted in his sleep, drawing both of their attention. Max held her breath, waiting to see if he would wake. She brushed her thumb in a soothing motion across the back of his hand and once again he settled. Max wasn't sure what it meant that she felt the need to soothe him or that Alec accepted it so easily, but it felt right all the same.

She suddenly remembered what Alec had said to her in the sewer. She remembered the look on his face, the absolute determination. She remembered how her heart had pounded and the thought of being with Alec hadn't seemed like the crazy idea it once had. In that second, he hadn't seemed like the same screw-up she was used to seeing. He'd seemed like a man, a serious, resolute, handsome, yet damaged man who'd been by her side through this whole mess. It had scared her so badly, she'd shoved him away and run for it. Looking at Alec now, she was sorry that the last time she'd really talked to him she'd been angry.

When Max turned back to Logan, he was once again regarding her sadly, as if he understood all too well what she'd been thinking. "Do you know what you'll do now?" Logan asked, almost as if he didn't want to know.

"We'll leave," Max said with certainty. "We can't stay here. It's too dangerous."

"It might get better," Logan tried, "with all the publicity."

Max immediately shook her head. "We'll go. I nearly got us killed at City Hall. I won't risk that again on a possibility that things _might_ get better."

Logan nodded in acceptance and stood as if to leave. "You should rest. I'll be in the other room if you need me."

"Thanks." Max slid back down on the bed. Her stomach was hurting and she was suddenly exhausted from all the talking. She had to release Alec's hand to do it and the last thing she remembered as she drifted back to sleep was Alec putting an arm around her and pulling her close. Logan saw it and turned away. Max's eyes closed as he left the room.

* * *

Alec woke abruptly and immediately cursed himself for falling asleep. He'd meant to stay awake until he was absolutely sure Max was out of the woods. His second realization was that he was wrapped around Max, holding her tightly to him, and it was everything he could have hoped for. She was warm and wonderful, muscled, but soft in all the right places. She would also kill him if she knew what he was thinking.

Alec slowly unwrapped his arm from around her and rolled to lie flat on his back. He was still tired, but the days he'd waited for Max to wake up had at least given his body time to repair some of the damage done. His shoulder was taking the longest since he'd reinjured it repeatedly, but given another few days it too would be fine. He only hoped the same could be said for Max.

"You awake?"

Alec startled at the question, which meant she'd been awake while he'd been holding her. That raised a whole different set of questions and Alec didn't even know where to start, so he just said, "Yeah."

Max rolled onto her back and clasped her hands across her stomach. "You ok?"

"Yeah," he said again. "You?"

"Better."

"Good."

Silence fell and they both remained where they were, staring at the ceiling. Alec wasn't really sure what else to say. He didn't want to talk about their failures, or the mess they were in, or about the mayor, or about anything really. Selfish as he was, all he was really concerned about was Max and why she hadn't done anything about him sleeping with his arm around her.

Apparently Max's thoughts had wandered in the same direction because she cleared her throat and asked, "What you told me when we were in the sewer… Why didn't you ever say anything before?"

Rather than answer directly, he asked a question of his own. "Why do you think I was so annoyed when you used me to keep Logan away?"

"Ah." Max made a sound of realization. "You didn't want to be the bad guy."

"Pretty much." Alec couldn't stand it anymore and sat up. If she was going to smack him back into oblivion for getting ideas, then he didn't want to take it lying down. If she wasn't, then he wanted to be able to see her. Max seemed to feel the same. She sat up, leaning against the headboard for support. She couldn't quite bring herself to make eye contact and settled for a few nervous glances in his direction, which made Alec smile. Oh, he was definitely getting to her.

"So how long…"

Alec raised an eyebrow. "How long have I been wishing you and Logan would figure out you were doomed?"

Max finally looked at him to give him a glare. "Yeah."

"Dunno," he replied simply, and it was the truth. "It kinda snuck up on me at some point. One day, it just dawned on me. I was looking at you and looking at Logan and I realized I was wishing that I was still a complete jerk with no conscience who could take him out so you'd quit mooning over him." He gave her a roguish grin. "I was also prepared to comfort you in your time of need."

"Do I even need to say how sick that is?"

Alec let out a little huff of a laugh. "Take it as a sign of growth that all I did was think about it."

"Yeah. You're Mr. Mature."

"And you thought I had no self control," he said wryly.

She regarded him carefully. "You didn't exactly show any around the black ops team, or Ming for that matter."

Alec winced. He didn't care about the soldiers, but just mentioning Ming brought back a flash of guilt for multiple reasons. First for killing someone they'd been there to save and second for not killing him soon enough. Finally, he said, "They murdered more than half of our people. As for Ming… He could have killed you. I couldn't allow that."

To Alec's surprise, Max didn't seem to hold what he'd done against him. She cocked her head to one side. "Is this part of your attempt to impress me?" she asked. "You want to kill anyone who comes near me?"

"Hey," he shrugged, "I have to impress you somehow and unfortunately, the only skills I have involve killing people. Not really your thing, but it's all I got."

Max rolled her eyes. "This isn't the jungle, you know."

"Your brain says that, but your DNA says it is. I have to impress them both."

"You want to impress my DNA?" she asked in disbelief.

Alec smirked. "I'm prepared to impress you in any way I can think of."

"Well, right now I'm impressed with the fact you're an idiot."

Alec gave her a mock-serious expression. "It's a start I guess. Give me a century or two and maybe you won't look like you smell something nasty every time I come around."

Max frowned and actually looked at him again. "I don't-"

"You do," he cut her off. "It's ok. I can be patient. For a while anyway."

Max pressed her lips together in thought. "Ok."

"Ok?" Alec said, completely shocked.

"Give me some time. And… maybe."

Alec's heart that had seemed to be in a vise ever since Max had been hurt suddenly felt like it was going to swell to bursting. "Maybe's… good." He felt a wide grin spread across his face.

"Stop smiling like that," Max ordered, scowling.

"I can't," he answered. "I'm making plans to sweep you off your feet."

"Shut up."

"That's fine," he answered happily. "I don't have to talk to do it."

Max just rolled her eyes, but he could see it. She was smiling, just a tiny one, but it was there. Finally, she cleared her throat. "Where's my phone?" she asked.

"Why?"

"Just get it."

Alec obliged. He rose from the bed and retrieved her cell from a table across the room where he'd set her things several days ago to wait for her. He returned to the bed and instead of sitting on the other side, he sat beside her at her hip and handed it to her.

She gave him a suspicious look as if she knew what he was up to, but took the phone. She scrolled through several things and Alec wondered exactly what she up to. Finally, she dialed and waited for someone to pick up.

"_Clemente_."

"You know who this is?" she asked.

"_Yes_." He definitely sounded wary. "_You want to tell me what happened a few days ago_?"

"We saved the mayor's life and nearly got killed doing it. My guess, the guy's not half as grateful as he should be."

"_Uh huh_." Alec wasn't sure the guy was totally buying it, but with all the news coverage of what the mayor had done, everything about their situation was screwy.

"You remember what you told me before?"

"_Refresh my memory_."

"You said to hold onto your number… in case we needed something."

Alec heard him sigh heavily. "_What is it_?"

"Every other Transgenic has already left Seattle. I need safe passage for two and you'll never have to deal with us again."

"_They're all gone_?" he asked, surprised.

"We're not stupid. They blew up our home and then sent a death squad after us," Max said, barely disguising her anger. "We decided to take the hint."

Clemente had the good sense not to comment. Instead, he got right down to business. "_When_?"

"As soon as possible."

There was a pause and Alec could hear the background noise of wherever Clemente was. Since his answers had all been short and he'd been careful not to say anything that would catch someone's attention, he was probably at work.

"_I'll call when it's arranged_."

"Thanks," Max said and hung up.

"He must really want us out of town," Alec observed.

"Wouldn't you?"

"Want us out of town?" He raised his eyebrows. "I definitely want us out of town. I just… don't know how you feel about that."

Max took a deep breath. "I already talked to Logan again. I told him we were leaving."

Alec was beyond surprised. He'd expected her to waffle. He'd expected her to want to take Logan with them or stay or… something. He really didn't want to ask, but he had to know. "You ok with that?"

"It's time," she answered, and he could hear the decisiveness in her voice. She looked shocked at it herself, but somehow at ease. It was beautiful to see her finally look content. He'd seen her looking harried or frustrated or horrified or heartbroken for so long, maybe as long as he'd known her, but this, now that she'd finally made the decision and was comfortable with it… This was a new Max, a beautiful Max, one he was looking forward to getting to know better.

Max's phone chirped and she looked at in surprise. "That was fast." She looked down at it and froze.

"What?" He could tell it wasn't from Clemente, which couldn't be good.

Suddenly Max broke into a wide smile and Alec's anxiety faded. "It's coordinates."

"What?"

She turned the phone and showed him the screen. It said, "For Little Fella," followed by a set of latitude and longitude coordinates.

"Joshua." Alec smiled broadly, matching Max. "We need to go. He's exposed whoever he's with sending those. They'll only stay where they are long enough for us to catch up."

"Then we'd better get ready. Clemente will call soon."

Alec frowned. "So we'll meet up with Josh… Then what?"

"I…"

Alec watched in awe as Max turned a brilliant rose red. She glanced at him nervously, then away, then back again.

"What?" he asked softly.

"I…" Finally, she worked up the nerve and met his gaze. She smirked. "How do you feel about Tahiti?"

Alec slid closer on the bed. "I hear it's nice this time of year."

"That so?"

Alec put his arms around her, tentatively, carefully, mindful that he was still dealing with a skittish animal that could bolt at any moment. "Max, as long you're there, it'll be a nice time of year."

Max brought her hands up and placed them on either side of his face. She smiled mischievously. "Then kiss me already, and let's get going."

Alec laughed heartily and obliged. Maybe they would find the others, maybe they wouldn't. Maybe they would end up on a sun-drenched beach, maybe not. Maybe one day being a Transgenic wouldn't be a death sentence or maybe they'd have to remain in hiding the rest of their days. To Alec's way of thinking it didn't matter. He would be with Max and that would make all the difference.

* * *

_And there you have it. Been a pleasure and hope you enjoyed it._


End file.
